Are you being sued for a credit card, student loan or medical debt in Nassau or Suffolk County?

Are you being sued for a debt in Nassau County or Suffolk County? You’re not alone. 1 in 3 Americans has had a bill sent to collections at one point in their life. Last year, the debt collection industry collected over $55 BILLION dollars from consumers just like you. Many of those debts were collected by third party debt buyers, who paid pennies on the dollar to buy charged-off debts, and entered default judgments against unsuspecting debtors. It’s a problem that many deal with, but few know how to FIGHT BACK.

Things will only get worse if you ignore a debt collector’s lawsuit (as anyone who has had their bank accounts frozen, property seized, or their wages garnished can tell you). There ARE things that can be done to make all of this go away, and I can help you.

Call us right now, and speak with a lawyer for free.

You’ve Been Served with a Summons & Complaint.

Once a debt collection lawsuit has been filed against you by a creditor, the countdown begins, and you have a limited amount of time to daft, file and serve your answer with affirmative defenses. Since every debt collection lawsuit is unique, and every summons and complaint filed by a debt collection attorney is custom-drafted for each defendant, you must draft a custom answer addressing the specific items in your summons and complaint in order to take full advantage of the legal remedies available to you. If you fail to timely file an answer, or fail to state one of your affirmative defenses, you permanently waive such relief that may have been available to use to have your case dismissed.

If an answer is timely filed alleging all of the available affirmative defenses, the debt collector will have a very high burden of proof to meet in court. Oftentimes, debt collection law firms make mistakes in their pleadings, and fail to submit required documents by required times. Oftentimes they are unable to produce their required witnesses at trial, or properly authenticate documents when requested to do so. Unless these errors are spotted and affirmatively used for your defense, you may miss out on opportunities to have your case dismissed.

You’ve Been Notified of a Default Judgment, Your Wages are Being Garnished, or Your Bank Account Has Been Restrained.

 

     Collection of debts is a complicated matter, and debt collectors often fail to follow the proper procedures required by law to collect a debt. Debt collectors often resort to extreme measures to collect debts, including obtaining judgments against parties who are not responsible for the debts, attempting to collect debts after the statute of limitations has expired, obtaining default judgments without the consumer’s knowledge due to improper service of process, and failing to follow proper procedures required by law. Often times their failure to follow the rules can result in your case being dismissed.

If a “default judgment” is obtained against you, and you were never served with a Summons and Complaint, we can draft, serve and file a legal document called an “Order to Show Cause”, which asks a judge to vacate the original default judgment. For the judgment to be vacated, certain affirmative defenses must be alleged in your Order to Show Cause and supporting documents. Simply stating you were not served with the summons and complaint is an insufficient reason to have the original default motion vacated, and if you simply do so, your motion will be denied, and the original judgment will stand.

Once your Order to Show Cause is properly served and filed, the debt collection attorney will file opposition papers with the court, stating reasons to the judge why your request to vacate the default judgment should be denied. We will file reply papers on your behalf, solidifying your legal position and addressing the debt collection lawyer’s issues. We will then appear in court on your behalf, along with the debt collection lawyer suing you, and verbally argue your Order to Show Cause in front of the judge.

If your Order to Show Cause is granted, and default judgment is vacated, it would be as if the clock was set back to the first day the lawsuit was allegedly served. Any restraints on your bank account will be released (allowing you full access to the money in your bank account again), and any wage garnishment would cease. However, you must still defend yourself in the lawsuit, or the debt collection lawyer would just obtain another judgment.

At this time, we would obtain a copy of the summons and complaint from the debt collection lawyer, and draft a custom answer with affirmative defenses on your behalf, and serve it on the debt collection lawyer and file with the court. We would then litigate the matter to conclusion on your behalf. Debt collection lawsuits could take anywhere form 1 year to up to 6 years or more to litigate to conclusion. This could involve drafting and responding to various discovery demands, reviewing documents, filing and responding to Notices to Admit, requesting and conducting Traverse Hearings, attending arbitration hearings, attending regular court conferences, conducting depositions, preparing for trial, and conducting a trial through conclusion (cross-examining witnesses, summations, objections, requesting relief).

A typical debt collection lawsuit defense typically involves drafting, filing and serving a lot of paperwork, and appearing in court for several appearances before the matter is resolved. Some examples of what we do include:

  • Drafting a custom answer with affirmative defenses
  • Properly Serving & filing the answer and required notices (if applicable) 
  • Appearing in Court for Preliminary Conferences
  • Drafting, filing reviewing and responding to various discovery demands
  • Drafting, filing and responding to Notices to Admit
  • Conducting depositions (if applicable)
  • Drafting, filing reviewing and responding to Motions to Dismiss
  • Drafting, filing and responding to Motions for Summary Judgment
  • Attending all scheduled court conferences on your behalf for the entire length of the action
  • Requesting and conducting Traverse Hearings 
  • Attending arbitration hearings
  • Attending and conducting a Trial De Novo 
  • Attending Pre-Trial Conferences in Court
  • Preparing for trial
  • Conducting your trial through conclusion (cross-examining witnesses, summations, objections, requesting relief)
  • Drafting & filing Post-Trial Memorandums of Law (if applicable)

Call us, right now, and an attorney will speak with you for free.

 

(631) 747-0356

(Touch to call)

 
 

Frequently Asked Questions About Debt Defense

Will the creditor continue to call or contact me once I retain you?

No. Once we notify all parties that you are represented by an attorney, you will no longer receive any contact from your creditor.

I was served with a summons and complaint. What do I do?

You should immediately contact a New York debt defense lawyer to lean your rights. Once a debt collection lawsuit has been filed against you by a creditor, the countdown begins, and you have a limited amount of time (typically 20-30 days) to draft, file and serve your answer with affirmative defenses. You must draft an answer that addresses the specific items in the summons and complaint in order to exploit the full legal remedies available to you. If you fail to timely file an answer, or fail to state one of your affirmative defenses, you permanently waive such relief.

What happens if I just ignore the summons and complaint?

No one wants to deal with a debt collection lawsuit. You’ve ignored your creditors for this long, it’s easy to simply ignore a summons and complaint when you find it taped on your door. Unfortunately, a lawsuit is the final stage to give your debt collector the legal authority to TAKE what it wants from you. Shortly after ignoring a lawsuit, you may find your bank accounts frozen, your employer may receive wage garnishment notices (resulting in a potentially embarrassing situation), or your debt collector may even place a lien on or force the sale of your assets. If you ignore the lawsuit, it could be extremely difficult to stop this from happening to you.

How easy is it to win these types of lawsuits?

If an answer is timely and properly served and filed, alleging all of the affirmative defenses available to you, the debt collector will have a very high burden of proof to meet in court. Oftentimes, debt collection law firms make mistakes in their pleadings, are unable to timely respond to your lawyer’s discovery demands, are unable to produce their required witnesses at court hearings or at trial, or are unable to properly authenticate documents when requested to do so. Unless these errors are spotted and affirmatively used for your defense, you may miss out on opportunities to have your case dismissed. No lawyer can guarantee how your case will end, but our record speaks for itself.

I just found out my bank account is frozen/ my wages are being garnished. What can I do?

In most consumer matters, an attorney will cost you NOTHING.

New York State law allows consumer lawyers to act as a sort of private attorneys general, and awards attorneys’ fees to consumer lawyers to reduce the burden on public enforcement agencies. Consumers who are victims of deceptive business acts can request to have the fraudulent business pay their attorney’s fees and costs for them. Since attorney’s fees and costs are typically recoupable, we handle most consumer law claims at no cost to you, the consumer. If your lawsuit is unsuccessful, or if we fail to collect attorney’s fees from the fraudulent business, you owe us nothing. 

Often times, people discover a judgment has been entered against them for the first time when they receive notice of a garnishment or bank account restraint notice. This typically resulted from a creditor obtaining a “default judgment” against you at some time in the past. We can help you to vacate your default judgment and “unfreeze” your bank accounts. Click on the “Free Case Review” link, and include copies of your garnishment/restraint notice so we can contact you, for free, to inform you of your rights about your particular situation, and advise you as to what your next steps should be.

I have a judgment filed against me. What can I do?

If a “default judgment” is obtained against you, and you were never served with a Summons and Complaint, we can draft, serve and file a legal document called an “Order to Show Cause”, which asks a judge to vacate the original default judgment. For the judgment to be vacated, certain affirmative defenses must be alleged in your Order to Show Cause and supporting documents. Simply stating you were not served with the summons and complaint is an insufficient reason to have the original default motion vacated, and if you simply do so, your motion will be denied, and the original judgment will stand.

Once your Order to Show Cause is properly served and filed, the debt collection attorney will file opposition papers with the court, stating reasons to the judge why your request to vacate the default judgment should be denied. We will file reply papers on your behalf, solidifying your legal position and addressing the debt collection lawyer’s issues. We will then appear in court on your behalf, along with the debt collection lawyer suing you, and verbally argue your Order to Show Cause in front of the judge.

If your Order to Show Cause is granted, and default judgment is vacated, it would be as if the clock was set back to the first day the lawsuit was allegedly served. Any restraints on your bank account will be released (allowing you full access to the money in your bank account again), and any wage garnishment would cease. However, you must still defend yourself in the lawsuit, or the debt collection lawyer would just obtain another judgment.

How long will everything take?

As each lawsuit is unique, we have no way of knowing until we review all of the legal documents and start to litigate the matter. Most debt collection lawsuits take an average of two years to litigate. Debt collection lawsuits could take anywhere from 6 moths to up to 3 years or more to litigate to conclusion. This could involve drafting and responding to various discovery demands, reviewing documents, filing and responding to Notices to Admit, requesting and conducting Traverse Hearings, attending arbitration hearings, attending regular court conferences, conducting depositions, preparing for trial, and conducting a trial through conclusion (cross-examining witnesses, summations, objections, requesting relief). Our low monthly fee includes representation throughout all of it, so your cost is the same, no matter how complicated your case may become.

I have another question that I can't find the answer to about my case.

I’ll be more than happy to discuss your case with you, for free. No strings attached. Please fill out my “Free Case Review” so I have all the relevant information I need to review your matter, and I will either call or email you (depending on your preference) to answer your questions and give you my thoughts.

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