[minasmom]

This is in the State of Washington

Back in 2005 I signed up for some online classes at a local University. I never attended the classes and thought that I had called to withdraw (I have no proof and honestly my memory is horrible). A few months later I got a bill from the school for the classes and called them to find out what was up. I was told that I never withdrew and owed the full tuition for the classes (like 2500)-money I did not have. I started to pay what I could, which was like $25 a month and continued to pay this even after it was sent to collections.

In 2007 the collection agency wrote me a letter saying basically my payments were not good enough, so I stopped paying all together. Fast forward to April; I was served papers saying that they were suing me for the balance, plus interest. I went to a free legal clinic here and they helped me draw up an answer to the summons. Shortly thereafter I got a letter from the lawyer saying that they would be willing to consider offers for a lesser amount or willing to set up a payment plan. I called them and offered $1200. They told me that they would present that to their client (the collection agency) and that they would either accept or counter offer.

Today I received a letter saying that my offer was not accepted and that their client wanted all of the money, plus interest, plus legal fees. Also that I had until August 10 ( a whopping 11 days) to pay or they would proceed with a Motion for Summary Judgement. I am baffled why they asked for an offer at all, but whatever.

I do not think that I will have adequate time to get back into the free legal clinic as it takes some time to set up appointments with them, so I am hoping that you can help. From what I have read on the internet it appears a summary judgement is a big "screw you" and doesn't allow me any opportunity to defend my case. Is there something I can do at this point besides paying this in full (which I cannot do)? Will I have the opportunity to respond or answer to this motion? If the court does issue a summary judgement, do I just owe it all? Can I appeal or something? How sure is it that they would get a summary judgement versus this going to court? Any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated.

[Mr. Knowitall]

A motion for summary judgment asks a court to do just that - grant summary judgment for the reasons outlined in the motion. You get to answer the motion, and you get to argue in court that the motion should not be granted. Whether or not you have any valid defenses isn't something I can answer for you - we don't have access to the court file, don't know the full facts, and as of yet their motion doesn't even exist in written form so we can't review it.

You can file an appeal from summary disposition, but again you need to have facts or law supporting your case if you wish to prevail.