Improper Service of Court Summons
My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Rhode Island
I have recently moved and received a call from my roommate stating that someone let a constable into our apartment building of 12 apartments and he left a visable notice on the door of her apartment addressed to me stating that he needed me to contact him about court papers that he needed to serve me. This notice was not folded and was visable to all of the neighbors to read that passed by the door.
What should I do? and should I just not call him seeing that I no longer live there. From what I figured out by a recent collection letter that I received he is trying to collect on a debt that is out of SOL, in Rhode Island it's 10 years. The last time I paid on the account was October of 2000.
If he does serve me, how do I represent myself in court against thier lawyers? I don't have any old credit reports showing that. All I have is the the phone number to call the actual original lender who can verify this. Also this account has been sold at least 2 times since it was charged off over the past 10 years.
What happens if I don't call the number on the notice that he left on her door?
Re: Inproper Serving of Court Summons
Ha! Good trick Mr. Process Server. Ignore the notice. Once you get served, you'll then see the complaint & know exactly why they are suing you. Right now, you don't know...you think....
Re: Improper Service of Court Summons
Odds are that the posting is a first step toward getting court approval for, or perhaps even completing a court-approved process for, substituted service. If the court approves substituted service, that normally includes posting at your last known address; once that process is complete, you're served. Once you're served, if you don't appear and defend you'll be defaulted. Substituted service will typically involve the posting of the summons and complaint, so if all you got was a "call me"-type note you don't appear to be there yet.
If you don't believe you can effectively represent yourself in court without a lawyer, considering hiring a lawyer. It's a bit much to try to tell you the entire process of litigating a case, and everything that could potentially happen along the way, in a forum.
Re: Improper Service of Court Summons
All I got was a note left on my door asking me to call the constable about some court papers he has for me. I have not received anything in the mail or anything with any type of summons information yet.
Re: Improper Service of Court Summons
If you are sure that you owe nothing now (because of the 10 years' lapse), it seems safest to respond and clear it up in court.
If you do not clear it up in court, you might lose a default judgement, as Mr. Knowitall pointed out.
My son had a similar problem with the IRS. He had a habit of overwithholding, not filing tax returns, and not responding to IRS notices. If he had responded to IRS notices, he would have gotten a tax refund every year. Instead, the IRS made claims that he did not rebut within 3 years (each time), and he wound up owing more than $10,000 in back taxes. If he had done things right, he would have spent maybe 40 hours over the course of years and wound up maybe $15,000 ahead of what happened. In other words, he could have been paid about $375 per hour for his hassle of responding to IRS notices.
Re: Improper Service of Court Summons
IRS is different .... all they have to do is send it by mail ...
Recommend a visit to the court house to see if process was substituted though .... I forgot about this possibility .. it does not sound like he has been served ...