I received a letter today from a lawyer's office that had been in touch with me in the past. I asked for the debt to be validated when they contacted me. They did not provide all the information I asked for, so I could not verify the debt was mine. I asked again for the information I needed and heard nothing. Three months later, I get this letter saying I'm supposed to be in court in a week. I don't have any idea where or even the time. Can I dispute this or get it thrown out? I am almost always home and never received anything. Should I contact them directly or contact the court?
In Colorado, they have to personally serve you with the summons for service to be valid (unless you authorize some one to accept service for you). If the letter tells you the Case No., the names of the parties, and the court that it is filed in, then you can call the court to find out if a case has been filed and if the Plaintiff has filed a Return of Service showing that you were properly served. I would not bother to contact the attorney, as they have not been very up front with you in the course of this case. You will want to retain an attorney in order to get adequate representation though eventually. Oftentimes, if you get one involved early, they might be able to get the case resolved early and more favorably.
The letter from the attorney may be a ruse, a trick to get you to show up in Court, participate in the proceeding, and thereby submit yourself to the jurisdiction of the court even though you were not served.
OR, the letter may be a part of the procedure in Colorado. In my state, I can serve defendants in certain kinds of cases by sending the process to the Secretary of State and then giving notice of that service by mail to the Defendant. So, consulting with a CO attorney is essential before you give the Plaintiff a "gift"--you being in court when you are not legally required to be there.
Under tha Fair Debt Collectin Act, if you objected to the claimed debt in writing the information must be provided to you. If they have not provided information after you wrote to them, they are in violation. If you're north of Denver, try calling Gary Merenstein in Boulder, He handles this type of case and gets his fees paid by the personwrongfully trying to collect.
