Q: Should I respond to a civil lawsuit or just wait for my hearing.
Me and wife were served a summons for a civil lawsuit for an outstanding hospital bill from 10/13. We have no assets, don’t own our home and I am on SSDI wife is unemployed and has pending SSDI claim. We have no way of paying this. Is it in our best interest to file a response to this summons or just wait for our scheduled case management conference. We don’t dispute the outstanding charges we just have no money to pay this outstanding bill from 2013
A:
You appear to have a viable defense. The statute of limitations is 4 years on a written contract. Code of Civil Procedure section 337. Whether or not you agreed to extend the statute or it has been tolled by your progress payments is unknown. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP§ionNum=337
You may wish to consult with Legal Aid or with a consumer rights attorney. If a creditor is attempting to collect a time barred debt, you may have valuable claims against it for violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Perform an internet search for "Fair Debt Collection Practices Attorneys near me", or Debt Settlement Attorneys near me".
Alternatively, you may wish to consult with bankruptcy attorneys.
Ignoring the lawsuit is the worst possible option. You will end up with a judgment against you. A lien can be placed against your property, if any, and your bank accounts can be levied. Just showing up to court to inform everyone that you are poor accomplishes nothing.
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