LAWSUITS

Have you been served a lawsuit?

A lawsuit means you are being sued in a court of law. People often drag their heels and don’t bother filing an answer. Sometimes they are confused about whether they even need to answer the lawsuit because a “case management conference date” has been set and is stamped on the lawsuit papers. They think that they merely have to show up to court and plead their case at the designated date and time. However, if you don’t file a written responsive pleading (usually called an “answer”) within 30 days of the service of the papers as stated on the “summons”, the creditor can ask the court to enter a default judgment. Once a default judgment has been entered, there is no reason to show up at the case management conference as the case is OVER. The creditor already has a judgment that they can enforce against your wages (garnishment) and against your bank accounts (called a “levy”).

DO NOT DESPAIR! Filing a bankruptcy will stop the lawsuit and/or the enforcement of the judgment in its tracks wherever it is in the process. If the bankruptcy is filed before the judgment is entered, the creditor cannot even get a judgment. In fact, the entire lawsuit will be subject to an injunction that arises instantaneously upon the filing of the bankruptcy case called an “automatic stay.” If the creditor obtained a judgment and then served a garnishment order onto your employer, you must act quickly. The employer has to wait for 10 days and then your next payroll statement after 10 days gets the garnishment whammy (up to 25% of the net after taxes can be garnished). A bankruptcy – PRESTO -- stops the garnishment. If you have been dragging your heels and don’t file the bankruptcy before the garnishment starts or before your bank account is levied, you will have just that much less money to pay for your bankruptcy. Don’t let it get that far!

Call Attorney Marty K. Courson at 415-433-3100 to schedule a free bankruptcy consultation and stop that lawsuit in its tracks! Do this sooner, when it is so much easier and less costly to nip these things in the bud; rather than later, when you have less money to pay for the cost of the bankruptcy filing and your money has been diverted to your judgment creditor.