Many collection agency lawsuits are filed at the magistrate or district justice level. (District Justice and Magistrate are the same thing, where cases that are $12,000 or less can be filed). Collection agencies file claims at the Magistrate level as a cost savings measure. Its a little bit cheaper to file the lawsuit there, and, they often do not have to send an attorney to the hearing. Two companies that do this almost exclusively are LVNV Funding and Midland Credit Management.
The rules/procedure at the DJ are as follows. The Plaintiff collection agency files the lawsuit. The defendant (you) is notified of the lawsuit and hearing date, which is usually about a month after the lawsuit is filed. The defendant has an obligation to notify the DJ that he/she will attend the hearing and defend the lawsuit. If the defendant does not notify the court, a hearing will not take place. What will happen is that the collection agency will automatically win. A District Justice judgment will be entered against the defendant, and the defendant will have thirty (30) days to file an appeal.
If the defendant advises the court that he/she is going to defend at the hearing, the court will notify the collection agency that a hearing will take place. In our estimation there is a 5% chance that the collection agency will not show up at the hearing. (this percentage changes with different collection law firms, some show up more often than others). If they do not show up, then the defendant should win.
If the collection agency does show up, it is very unlikely that they will have all of the necessary documentation regarding your credit account, and that should be the basis of your defense. The best advice that we can give is to have a knowledgeable consumer attorney attend the hearing on your behalf. If you attend, then the collection attorney can ask you questions about the alleged account and use your testimony against you. If you send a consumer attorney in your place, (you will not go to the hearing if you hire a knowledgeable consumer attorney) they generally have a very difficult time in proving the case against you. In fact, we have only lost on a collection agency case at the magistrate level a handful of times each year, and losses are moreso the result of incorrect rulings rather than a preponderance of the evidence. Rule 321 is the prominent rule at the District Justice court level. It sets forth the types of evidence that can come in to court at a hearing. We use Rule 321 to prevent most of the collector’s evidence from being seen by the judge.
The best advice is to hire a consumer attorney to attend the hearing on your behalf.
A District Justice lawsuit is a serious issue, please don’t ignore it, and please think twice before representing yourself. Send a consumer attorney to the hearing, whether it’s our firm or another, and you can expect very good results.
If you have a credit card company or a collection agency attempting to collect a debt from you at the magistrate or district justice, please contact our office at 412-348-8600 or send an email to Attorney Greg Artim