Credit Card lawsuits are at an all time high in Allegheny County. Between the major collection agencies and credit card companies, there are dozens of lawsuits filed every single business day in the Pittsburgh region. These lawsuits can be filed at your local District Justice or in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County. If you are one of the unfortunate many in this situation, please know that you found the right website and the right attorney to assist you with your problems. We give guidance on these cases on a daily basis and we are the only law firm in Pittsburgh whose main focus is the defense of credit card lawsuits. In most cases we will advise you to defend the lawsuit by hiring us or another consumer attorney but there are times when a negotiated settlement makes more sense.
In my experience, almost every lawsuit that is filed by the major collection agencies in Pittsburgh over credit card debt is legally insufficient. Legal insufficiency is a very strong defense in a credit card case. This is not necessarily a defense that you don’t owe the money, it’s more of a defense that they cannot prove their case. There are a number of issues that the lawsuit has to address, a number of pieces of evidence that have to be attached to any civil complaint. I have found that most of the credit card lawsuits filed in Pittsburgh just do not make the grade.
Unfortunately, that does not mean that the lawsuit automatically cannot move forward. Once a lawsuit is filed, there is a burden placed upon you to file a written response to the lawsuit. This response must adequately address all of the problem spots with the credit card lawsuit. When we file a response on behalf of our clients in these cases, the judge agrees with us almost every time regarding the insufficiency of the lawsuit.
It does not end there, though. The judge will typically issue an order that grants the collection agency a period of time to cure all of the defects, to fix the “insufficiencies”. In my experience, they are rarely able to do so. If they cannot cure the defects, your case gets dismissed, meaning that a court of law has determined that you do not owe the debt.
This becomes a double win situation for you. First, you do not owe the debt. That is win number one. Second, you can take a copy of the judge’s order and submit it to the credit bureaus. The credit bureaus will realize that you do not owe the debt and your credit score should rise dramatically. Win number 2.
Call us first for a free initial consultation 412-348-8600
Having discussed defense of the lawsuits, we certainly acknowledge that there are instances where a settlement of the case is the correct choice. Whether or not to settle is determined on a case by case basis and involves a number of factors including the amount of the lawsuit, who the opponent is, how old the debt is and which law firm the opponent has hired. There are other factors to consider and this is just a small sampling of the issues that we look at.
We are well versed in handling credit card and collection agency lawsuits that are filed in and around the Pittsburgh area, including al of Allegheny County. If you have been sued by a collection agency or credit card company in the Pittsburgh Area, please contact our office at 412-348-8600 or send an email to Attorney Greg Artim . There is no cost for the consult and there is no obligation to retain our services.