If, I have had my first pretrial, and now an scheduled for a trial on January 12th, 2019, is it too late to ask for arbitration? I don't have a lawyer and can't afford one. I am on disability, making $680.00 a month. I have a mental condition so I also have a payee. I believe there are several things that Portfolio Recovery Associates have done in their record keeping that are possible scamming behavior. before my first pretrial, I did homework on the debt buyer's record and there was a Court Order against the company because they were found to have been less than truthful in their tactics. The Court Ordered P.R.A. they are unable to bring a case to court until they have satisfied a bunch of requirements. Portfolio Recovery Associates didn't follow what they were supposed to do, so I am hoping to show the Court Order filed in 2015 and lasts until 2020. Any input from anyone I would greatly appreciate it.
Also, I have a question. I went to the court on the day the summons told me to show up. I also submitted my answer to the court in the time period that was allowed. On the original summons, it was signed by an associate from the law firm M.&J. LLC. It was a female lawyer. The day of court pretrial, no one from the law firm actually showed up, and everyone there who was getting sues from several different law firms and collection agencies, everyone had to wait in line outside the courtroom and everyone had to visit with some random man that said he was a representative lawyer acting on behalf of all the law firms. Is this fair? Is it legal? No one from the law office actually showed up and I was told I had to talk to some guy who didn't know anything about my case? Also, is there anything I can do before the trial date?