Collection suits and court dates
I know that those in financial difficulty are frequently not operating at their peak. But for the life of me, I can’t understand how the recipient of a summons and complaint from a California court can take from the papers only that they have a “court date”. Arghhh!
The basic outline of a collection suit is that the creditor files a complaint with the court. The court issues its summons, which validates the complaint and puts the defendant on notice that there is a legal suit pending.
The summons tells debtors plainly that they must file a typewritten answer to the complaint within 30 days of service, or the defendant may get a judgment for the relief prayed for, which is usually money.
Served with the complaint is a notice of case management conference on a given date, well after the date on which the answer is due. At the case management conference, assuming that an answer has been filed, the court will set deadlines, trial dates, etc. But none of this scheduling is necessary if the defendant has not contested the complaint by filing an answer.
Why is it that a consumer debtor grasps only the date of the case management conference, and absorbs none of the rest of the message that says clearly, in two syllable words, that one must file an answer for there to be anything for a court to decide?
I should have a cassette tape to play to tell clients that the case management conference date is meaningless if you didn’t file an answer. If you don’t have a defense to the action, that’s fine. Just don’t obsess about a date that means nothing if you didn’t take the time to read the summons and understand that filing an answer is the price of admission.
There’s more on the subject of collection suits at Bankruptcy in Brief.