Re: Court appearance What a waste of time!!
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Posted by Baodicea
(167.127.24.25) on August 11, 2004 at 14:16:46:
In Reply to: Court appearance What a waste of time!! posted by qutgnt on August 11, 2004 at 12:59:05:
Ok, I won't say I told ya so..... (grin) That's just the way they do things here and I've been through the exact same experience. The first court date is the "default call" date and is considered pre-trial. The only discernable purpose I could determine was that it was calculated two-fold to 1) get defaults on defendants who were too afraid to show up or who got sewer service and 2), scare the bejeezus out of the defendants who *do* show up so that they'll fork over the money without the expense of a trial. Congratulations for not being either! Yes, you will need to appear in court on the new court date, because that will be your actual trial date. The paper you saw shouldn't concern you. If you have a filed and *court-stamped* copy of your answer *and* served a copy to the CA attorney, that's all that you need. Too stinking bad if the CA attorney didn't have a copy. As long as the court has it and you served it properly (you have proof, of course, right?), then you are set for trial. If you didn't serve the CA attorney's office, then hop to it! Don't give them a chance to squeal that they were never served. Oh, and don't let the attorney rattle you. He probably spoke the truth about their never settling cases that go to trial. They probably DON'T settle and make a MOTION TO DISMISS without a shot being fired. Your mileage may vary, so be prepared for any continguency. And there is NO WAY the attorney can be a witness in your case. The attorney CANNOT testify in a case....no way, no how. If he even TRIES to do that, you should object loudly on the grounds that "COUNSEL CANNOT TESTIFY AS A WITNESS." I doubt that you'd need to say anything else. And if he does bring in a witness from Sherman Acq, it doesn't mean a thing. You can object again on the grounds that the witness has no personal knowledge of any relationship you may have with the account because they merely purchased it after default. But I don't expect them to do such a thing. The only time I saw a witness was when they had a signed car loan agreement as an exhibit and brought in an account manager from the OC. (Totally different story, there.) Sounds like you got one of those totally disorganized CA attorneys, and that may work in your favor. He didn't expect you to show up, didn't have a copy of your answer (mine didn't either, on either date), and is probably wondering what he's going to tell the boss.
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