Q: I have been "sued" by a debt collector but they didn't file with the court, they only served me. Is something off?
I received a Summons and Complaint for District Court in ND from a debt collector alleging I owed a debt. When I presented to the district court to file my declaration of service on the plaintiff, my affidavit of service, and Answer I was told the court had no record of the suit. The debt collector didn't file anything with the court. On closer examination of the documents I was served, each page has a barcode at the bottom and the mini-miranda statement, "This is an attempt to collect a debt, and any information obtained will be used for that purpose." Additionally in the caption it said "IN-DISTRICT-COURT" whereas every document and form I received from the court to complete only said, "DISTRICT COURT".
Are these actual legal documents or is this an unfair or illegal practice like intimidation? The lead clerk at the court thought the whole thing seemed suspicious.
A: Hard to tell. In North Dakota, you can serve a lawsuit and file it later. So you could be sued before the person or company suing you files it with the court.
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