How to Respond to a Lawsuit in Washington
My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Washington.
Pretty straightforward. I owe a medical provider a little under $3,000. It went to collection. Now, I recently was served a summons.
The complaint is essentially as follows:
I - Plaintiff is a Wa corporation.
II - Client identified in Attachment A has assigned to the plaintiff debts owed by the defendant.
III - Defendant is now indebted to the plaintiff for amounts assigned together with costs allowed for this suit action. Estimated costs are detailed in paragraph IV.
IV - Plaintiff prays for judgement against the defendant for principal in the sum of $XXXX, with interest of $XXX, plus statutory interest form date of filing, plus $0 handling fee, $0 collection fee, $5 exparte fee, $0 statutory damages, $XXX for estimated costs and disbursements, together with any and all statutory or reasonable attorney fees allowed by law.
Attachment A is just an itemized list of charges (no dates, no specific medical procedures, just the same creditor repeated with amounts and interest.
So my questions:
1) What is my next step. (basically I owe the money. But, of course, I have none. And I would love to settle for less. At the least I need a payment plan. I don't suppose I have any grounds to really fight the lawsuit, since I do in fact owe the debt.
2) I suppose I need to serve a Notice of Appearance with the plaintiff attorney and court (I will do so in person and get copies stamped.) Where can i get a template for a Notice of appearance? (preferably online, rather that having to drive to the court clerk).
3) Where/when do plaintiff "reasonable" attorney's fees come into this?
4) What else do I need to know right off the bat? (I have only a few days left to respond.)
Re: How to Respond to Lawsuit in Washington
http://www.washingtonlawhelp.org/fil...21019931EN.pdf
Honestly? You've basically screwed the creditor twice already - you've given them no reason to negotiate with you at this point. They'll get the judgment, tack on the attorney fees and at the same (generally) obtain a writ of garnishment.
Re: How to Respond to Lawsuit in Washington
Thanks for your quick reply.
1) But I should still file a Notice of Appearance?
2) I not familiar with the process after that. Will a court date be set?
3) And what happens at that court date?
4) At what point does the plaintif add on the attorney fees and ask for them?
5) Is in not in my best interest to reach some sort of aggreement sooner than later to avoid mounting attorney fees? How high will htey mount, or rather at how many more steps of this process will the plaintiff attorney have to work on this case, and can I avoid any of those steps in order to save on those plaintiff attorney fees?
6) Assuming I had the money to pay it at once, would that spare me the attorney fees? Similarly, would a payment plan accomplish the same thing? But are you saying that they dont even have a reason to agree to a payment plan cuz they can just get a judgement and garnishment and that means the most work for the attorney for which he can charge the most attorney fees?
Re: How to Respond to Lawsuit in Washington
1. Yeap!
2. There's no date on the summons?
3. They'll present their evidence, you'll concede, they'll get their judgment and (again it's usually at the same time) a writ of garnishment.
4. Now, actually - you've basically forced them to sue you
5. The problem is they've already incurred legal fees and you've given them no reason to believe you'd adhere to a payment plan
6. The attorney fees are basically an add-on at this point; they don't really have a reason to negotiate with you at this point.
Look at it this way. You've had at least two notifications that you owe the debt, and have - for all intents and purposes - ignored it and/or made no effort to ask for a payment plan. Medical creditors in particular are much more inclined to accept a reasonable payment plan.
Finally, don't worry too much about court. Be clean, tidy and respectful and this will likely be over in 10 minutes (if that). This is civil court and you're basically shoved in and out like cattle. You're not going to jail, you're not going to be shackled or threatened by over-zealous bailiffs. Don't sit there panicking. The commissioners hear this day in, day out. :)
Re: How to Respond to Lawsuit in Washington
2) No date on the summons
4) I guess what I asking is when will I know how much the attorney's fees will be since they are not named in the complaint. The plaintiff will state the fees at court?
Thanks for the encouragement. I'm not worried about court at all, enough personal experience there, just not will lawsuits.
I guess I'm wondering if I should still talk to the creditor (collection agency) or their attorney and if any good could conceivable come of it. I believe I was on a payment plan at one point (I'd had several accounts with this medical provider) and eventually stopped paying. I see what you're saying about no reason to negotiate.
And thank again for all your info!
Re: How to Respond to Lawsuit in Washington
Hey, a phone call is free and you may get lucky!
With regards to the date - well, that's a bit odd. What exactly have you been served with?
(In the mean time, so go here http://dw.courts.wa.gov/ and see if you find anything)
Re: How to Respond to Lawsuit in Washington
It's not unusual for a summons in a civil case to not include a date for the next court hearing, as in most courts no hearing is scheduled unless the defendant files a response or the plaintiff seeks a default following the defendant's missing the deadline to respond.
Re: How to Respond to Lawsuit in Washington
^ That sounds about right. I have a basic summons and a complaint, but no court date.
...Well i missed the 20 days.
1) Should I still send a NOA? (The plaintiff's attorney is far away so I have to mail it.)
2) I still don't understand at what point the plaintiff's attorney will specify how much he's seeking in attorney's fees.
3) The attorney's fees are what I'm most worried about. I'm not excited to pay $2,000 for them to file a couple pieces of paper. Will I have (or would I have if I'd replied sooner) any opportunity to dispute the amount? And how would I do that?
Thanks so much for all this info. This is not the first time I've been through this and for the record it is not actually me being sued, so while i understand that prevention is the best thing, I would like very much to gain a better understanding of this process and my options to be of more help when friends or family find themselves in this situation.