Thank you for your time in advance. I'm seeking advise for my fiance, who is being sued by PRA, LLC, in what I believe is small claims court (under $8000).
She is completely unsure of how to handle this, and I've been researching arbitration over the past few days. I believe I can help draft an answer,
but I am wondering if I should just help draft a motion to compel arbitration instead. I also saw a post where this backfired, and the defendant was held liable for the debt, as well as
all the cost associated with the arbitration, and had to file bankruptcy. That did give me some pause and thoughts to dig deeper. I've since read some case law in Florida, in which it seems in some cases the cost of arbitration is pursuable by the creditor. I am entirely out of my depth here, so I may have read these outcomes wrong, or they may not even apply to this situation.
We have very little money, no money for an atty, so I would like to know what the likelihood of a claim for this amount listed below would be for PRA to take this all the way through arbitration, or if there is any way this could backfire on her. I'm also interested to know if different courts require significantly different formats for a motion to compel arbitration, or if the sample motion I found on this site is a good foundation that I can build my motion around. I really do not know anything about how these documents are created.
Again, thank you kindly for your time and advise. I know it may not seem like a lot of money to some, but to us it's fairly stressful.
1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit?
Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC
2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? (should be listed at the top of the complaint.)
None Listed, Only PRA, LLC listed on complaint as plantiff.
3. How much are you being sued for?
$1400
4. Who is the original creditor?
Synchrony Home
5. How do you know you are being sued?
Served a summons
6. How were you served?
Process Server
7. Was the service legal as required by your state?
Yes
8. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued?
None
9. What state and county do you live in?
Florida, Polk County
10. When is the last time you paid on this account?
02/2020
11. When did you open the account (looking to establish what card agreement may be applicable)?
03/2019
12. What is the SOL on the debt? To find out:
5 years
13. What is the status of your case?
Summons served on 7/12/2022
14. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus (both the original creditor and the collection agency?)
No
15. Did you request debt validation before the suit was filed?
No
16. How long do you have to respond to the suit? (This should be in your paperwork). If you don't respond to the lawsuit notice you will lose automatically. In 99% of the cases, they will require you to answer the summons, and each point they are claiming. We need to know what the "charges" are. Please post what they are claiming. Did you receive an interrogatory (questionnaire) regarding the lawsuit?
20 days
17. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits.
Three single page documents of bills from Synchrony Home, showing DOP, last payment, and past due bill.