Бесплатные игровые автоматы. Они показывают, что вознаграждение предлагает выигрыш суждения помимо стандартных комбинаций икон. Они сложены, теплые дикие, создающие дикие и начинают множители.
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I know I’ve discussed whether you should seek a jury trial before, but I want to give it a new look for this set of videos. In my view, debt defendants should always ask for jury trials if they have the right to them, and most of them do have that right. These days that’s more important than ever.
Your Right under the Constitution
By constitutional law, you have a right to jury trial under the 7th amendment for most “legal” claims. “Legal” in this sense is a term of art referring to the historical development of the English courts. Suffice it to say that most claims “sounding in” breach of contract are “legal” claims. Account stated, on the other hand, is not, so if the credit card company is suing you ONLY for account stated, you probably don’t have a right to jury trial, but for almost all other credit card or loan based claims you do. And if the plaintiff is suing you for breach of contract and account stated, you will have a right to jury trial that will, in all likelihood, control the whole case.
So most of the people watching this video or reading this article will have a right to jury trial. Should you take it?
Yes. You should.
Judges and Lawyers Take Jury Trials More Seriously
The primary reason is that judges and the other side will take jury trials more seriously. This means that the judge will be much more careful about what kinds of evidence to allow the jury to see, and since that is the heart of much of our defense, this is a very good thing. It isn’t that a judge should allow hearsay to affect his or her decision, it’s that the judge will pay much closer attention to your argument that something IS hearsay if he or she is worried about a jury hearing it. It’s just a more serious kind of case.
And the second reason is that a jury trial is a more serious kind of case. A judge-held trial could last half an hour or even less, but a jury trial will be measured in hours or possibly days if there are any complications. That’s because the jury has to be selected for starters, and that takes time. Then, every evidentiary objection will be taken more seriously and the judge will care more about getting it right in order to make sure the trial doesn’t have to be redone. And finally, there will be jury instructions, which also take time to set up. The difference in cost of attorney time could easily be five thousand dollars, and debt collectors don’t like to put that kind of money into cases like this. It’s just the way they do business, not that they fear them or anything.
Juries are More Likely to Believe you
You probably don’t have much money if you’re being sued by a debt collector, and if you’re representing yourself you are certainly not a trial judge. Judges, debt collectors, and the lawyers who represent debt collectors all have money, and most of them were born into privilege. They’re not usually the people you want making decisions that affect your life because, to be frank, most of them don’t care about you at all. You know who might care about your situation, though? The jury. Nothing’s guaranteed, of course, but I’ve found that a jury is more likely to see things your way. Especially when combined with the chances of getting better evidentiary rulings from the court in jury cases, I think this can make all the difference.
Jury Trials are NOT Scary
It might sound like a jury trial is a bigger deal for a shy or intimidated person, and it is true that they are somewhat more complicated, and you’re playing to people in the jury rather than just the judge. But although that’s true, you will probably find, in real life, that it doesn’t matter. Juries are just as easy to talk to as judges, and if you’re caught up in your case it’s probably even easier to talk to the jury. They’re much more like you than the judge is. I used to think you had to be more “entertaining” for juries than judges, but I don’t think that anymore. If you can stick to your script, that should be good enough: juries will listen as well as judges in my opinion.
There are factors you’ll need to consider as you prepare for the case, but in making your decision on whether or not to demand a jury that’s probably all you need to know. The judge will be more serious, the defendant will like the case less, and the jury will be easier to talk to than the judge and may be fairer. In general. So we suggest you ask for a jury trial. Find out your court’s rules on asking for one before you file your answer if that is possible.
This article updated 3/25/25
https://yourlegallegup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/jury.jpg404776Ken Giberthttps://yourlegallegup.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/logo-208x300.webpKen Gibert2023-03-23 15:56:212025-03-25 19:16:10Your Right to a Jury – Should you Demand One
DO I Respond, HOW do I Respond, and WHAT do I Respond when Sued for Debt?
We talk elsewhere about what constitutes valid service of a lawsuit, and you should check out that video and article if you have any questions about whether you’ve been served. That makes a large difference in what you should do, and if you have been improperly served, you likely will not want to “answer” the suit at all and may instead want to “move to quash” the suit.
We also discuss elsewhere whether you should respond to a debt collection lawsuit you find out about if you have not been served the complaint. To boil that down to its most essential point, if you have not been served at all – you hear about the suit from a neighbor or look your name up in court files, or a lawyer sends you a letter saying you’re being sued – we usually suggest that you take no action if you don’t have a lawyer. If you do have a lawyer, and the lawyer thinks it’s best to get on with it, that might be a good idea, but as a pro se defendant you won’t be able to shut the case down the way a lawyer might.
Let them serve you if they can, but you have no obligation to help with that process. You don’t have to go down to the sheriff’s office or call the firm suing you or its process server. See if they can get you, and if they can’t the case will be dismissed against you. It actually happens a lot, although not a statistically huge percentage of cases.
If you go this route, you will want to keep an eye on the court files to see if, whether or not they HAVE served you, they claim to have served you, and that brings up a special issue that we discuss elsewhere, too.
If you are Served the Suit
If you get served, your next question will be HOW to respond. If you fail to respond at all, the other side will get a default judgment and start trying to get your stuff, so this is probably not a good idea for you. You’ll need to Answer or file what’s called a motion (in some jurisdictions, like California, you could file what’s called a “demurrer,” which is just another kind of motion). To answer this question, you should first consider what kind of court you’re in. Are you in a small claims court, sometimes called a “magistrate” court? Or are you in a “real” court?
Assuming you’re in a real court, you’ll need to do two things right off the bat. First, find your state’s Rules of Civil Procedure and look up the part about service of process and motions to dismiss. Some motions to dismiss have to be filed before you answer the petition. Find out if you have one of those – the petition is vague, names the wrong person, or violates certain procedural requirements some states have for debt collectors. If you have one of these, you might be (and almost certainly are) waiving your right to bring the motion if you answer first.
If they claim you were served, but you have some reason to dispute that, you probably need to bring what’s called a “motion to quash” service before you answer (as mentioned above), since answering will be regarded as your consent to the court’s jurisdiction.
If none of those concerns apply to you, you will need to answer the suit. In some states, they have what’s called a “verified petition,” which means that someone swore to the truth of the allegations. If you have that sort of petition, you will need to swear to your answer, and this means getting a notary public to witness the document. But this is rare. In most instances, the petition is an ordinary one signed by the lawyer for the debt collector. If that’s what you’ve got, you will simply want to deny almost all of the paragraphs, one by one, in the petition. Don’t go to absurd lengths and deny your name or address, if those are correct, but you should generally deny all of the other substantive allegations. The legal effect of your denial is to say, “prove it.”
In some states you can file what’s called a “general denial,” which does in one sentence what I just suggested.
If you think you have a counterclaim against the person suing you, you will want to add that to your answer.
We discuss “affirmative defenses” elsewhere, but in general they are facts that, even if what the debt collector says in its petition is true, would mean you don’t owe them money. Most typical of these sorts of defenses are some sort of agreement to settle or address the claim, or the passage of too much time before they brought the suit, called the statute of limitations.
The essence of an affirmative defense is that you bear the burden of proof in showing that these factors exist, and you also must plead them in your answer.
Finally, let’s talk about demanding a jury. Our position is, generally, that debt defendants should ask for a jury. We discuss this in greater length in our article and video on juries, but if you think you want a jury (as we recommend), you need to find out how your court and state require that you demand one. In federal court and some states, it’s enough to say it as part of your answer. In some states, you have to make a separate request by separate pleading. Find out what you are required to do and do that.
If by chance you’re just finding out about this after already starting to defend your case, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily too late. If you have a right to jury trial, the right is absolute when you raise it in the proper way and time, but even if you don’t do it when you should, the court should normally grant your request anyway absent some sort of misbehavior or the passage of too much time, and they are required to be “liberal” in their interpretation of what’s too late. That is, they are supposed to lean towards granting your request for a jury, so even if you’re late, you should go for it if you want one.
This article updated 3/25/25
https://yourlegallegup.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/road-sign-63983__340.jpg340453Ken Giberthttps://yourlegallegup.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/logo-208x300.webpKen Gibert2023-03-06 21:56:292025-03-25 20:30:27Do I Respond, How do I Respond, What do I Respond
Receiving Summons: What is “Valid” Service of Process
This question comes up a lot, and I have addressed it before. But for this set of videos I want to give a shorter, sweeter answer. Bear in mind that service of process is the way a court asserts jurisdiction over you – “process” is not the lawsuit, it’s the summons, the sheet of paper from the court, and “service” is the way it’s given to you. If it isn’t done correctly, the court lacks power to control your fate. As you’ll see, the rule isn’t some sort of absolute constitutional requirement – it is constitutionally required, but it can vary under circumstances of practicality. We’ll discuss some of those here.
If you’re in small claims court, there may be special rules regarding service of process. There often are. For example, service by certified mail, or even just first class mail, may be sufficient. If you receive a summons by mail, you should look up the court’s rules on service. Sometimes, even if service by mail is good, there may need to be some proof that you actually received it. Check your rules and see if what you got was good enough. Obviously you don’t want to call them, identify yourself, and ask if receiving service by mail was good enough, since that would be admitting you got it.
If you’re being sued in something other than small claims court, it’s probably going to take more than just the mail. They’re probably going to have to hand you the suit or offer to do so.
Here again, the rule is not absolute. If they offer you the summons, and you refuse it or run away, you will have been served. It isn’t necessary for you to take it for service to have happened, just for it to be offered.
But what if they tack it on your door? Or put it between the screen door and your front door? That’s normally not going to be enough, since there’s no certainty you will be the one getting it, but if that happens, you’ll want to research the question before deciding it wasn’t good enough. Incidentally, if we’re talking about a foreclosure or rent eviction, tacking the suit to the door might be enough to get jurisdiction over the property even if not over you, personally. That would mean that they could evict you if you don’t answer, but not hold you liable if there’s anything else owed.
What about if they give the summons to a neighbor? Probably not enough (check your state’s rules) and possibly a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, too.
How about giving it to you child at the door? This, too, is going to be determined by state rule. Most states have rules that allow service upon residents at a place who are a certain age or above. So ordinarily that would not give a visitor a right to accept service on you, or a child under a certain age.
If you haven’t been served adequately, you may wish to oppose the court’s jurisdiction over you. I actually usually suggest you hire a lawyer to do that for you, since it’s just a more powerful statement and can be done without being tremendously expensive. You would file what’s called a “motion to quash service,” to have it deemed ineffective by the court.
What if they can’t find you or reach you at home? There are other ways you can be served, but usually the plaintiff has to ask for permission to do that. They could serve you “by publication,” which means posting notice in some legal publication. Since no one ever reads those publications, you won’t see that, but if you’re aware they’re trying to reach you, you should follow the case docket and see if they ask for permission to serve you that way. If so and the court gives them permission to do so, you’re probably going to want to go ahead and waive service and ask them to mail you the summons and complaint. But it’s quite rare for debt collectors to take all the trouble to serve by publication for a very good reason: if they can’t find you to serve you, they’re not likely to be able to find your assets to collect on them. Everybody in the debt collection business likes to get paid, and if they don’t think they will be, they usually won’t put in the effort.
As you can see, I generally think the debt collectors should have to put in the effort to serve you. If they can’t, there isn’t much reason for you to make that easier for them. They might drop the suit on you completely. That’s a winner.
[updated 3/26/25]
https://yourlegallegup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/serve-process.jpg317371Ken Giberthttps://yourlegallegup.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/logo-208x300.webpKen Gibert2023-03-06 18:59:422025-03-26 15:15:06Receiving Summons: What is “Valid” Service of Process
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Бесплатные игровые автоматы. Они показывают, что вознаграждение предлагает выигрыш суждения помимо стандартных комбинаций икон. Они сложены, теплые дикие, создающие дикие и начинают множители.
Существует много бесплатных онлайн -слотов казино без тарелки, а также вам нужно выбрать место, которое обеспечивает хороший подиум и инициировать видеоигры. Read more
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Контентные статьи
В случае, если вы будете после азартного заведения в Интернете, который предлагает второе распределение, ищите кого-нибудь через банковский слот на ветерок. Read more
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Статьи и обзоры
Настроенные на линии названия игры в порту казино обеспечивают улучшенное мышление по сравнению с ощутимыми кузенами девушки. Сказочные произведения искусства, как правило, более полные, плюс доход лучше. Read more
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Content
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Содержание
Бесплатно зарядовать игровые автоматы казино тип у людей, которые имеют безрисковое ощущение ставок. Следующие игры помогают участникам протестировать различные другие методы, не беспокоясь о снижении фактических денег. Они также предлагают способность ознакомиться с различными другими устройствами игровых автоматов и инициировать свои особые функции.
Скрининг пробный циркуляр похож на образец хороший мягкий вкус мороженого, ранее выбирая тот, который можно получить. Read more
Jak uniknąć pożyczki feniko pozyczka hipotecznej online bez ogłoszeń
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Zadowoleni są z kluczowych słów, czyli wysokich odsetek od dochodu. Pożyczkobiorcy zazwyczaj wystawiają czek na spłatę pożyczki i nową opłatę, a także udzielają bankowi zgody na złożenie wniosku i rozpoczęcie wypłaty walidacji w kolejnym dniu wypłaty.
Tysiące pożyczkobiorców tkwi w ciągłym kryzysie związanym z chwilówkami, ponieważ kredyty często ulegają przedłużeniu lub są wielokrotnie przedłużane. Read more
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Человек, как правило, чувствует, что локальные слоты, дверной проем, более свободны и начинают увеличение оплаты. Read more
Your Right to a Jury – Should you Demand One
Jury Trial
I know I’ve discussed whether you should seek a jury trial before, but I want to give it a new look for this set of videos. In my view, debt defendants should always ask for jury trials if they have the right to them, and most of them do have that right. These days that’s more important than ever.
Your Right under the Constitution
By constitutional law, you have a right to jury trial under the 7th amendment for most “legal” claims. “Legal” in this sense is a term of art referring to the historical development of the English courts. Suffice it to say that most claims “sounding in” breach of contract are “legal” claims. Account stated, on the other hand, is not, so if the credit card company is suing you ONLY for account stated, you probably don’t have a right to jury trial, but for almost all other credit card or loan based claims you do. And if the plaintiff is suing you for breach of contract and account stated, you will have a right to jury trial that will, in all likelihood, control the whole case.
So most of the people watching this video or reading this article will have a right to jury trial. Should you take it?
Yes. You should.
Judges and Lawyers Take Jury Trials More Seriously
The primary reason is that judges and the other side will take jury trials more seriously. This means that the judge will be much more careful about what kinds of evidence to allow the jury to see, and since that is the heart of much of our defense, this is a very good thing. It isn’t that a judge should allow hearsay to affect his or her decision, it’s that the judge will pay much closer attention to your argument that something IS hearsay if he or she is worried about a jury hearing it. It’s just a more serious kind of case.
And the second reason is that a jury trial is a more serious kind of case. A judge-held trial could last half an hour or even less, but a jury trial will be measured in hours or possibly days if there are any complications. That’s because the jury has to be selected for starters, and that takes time. Then, every evidentiary objection will be taken more seriously and the judge will care more about getting it right in order to make sure the trial doesn’t have to be redone. And finally, there will be jury instructions, which also take time to set up. The difference in cost of attorney time could easily be five thousand dollars, and debt collectors don’t like to put that kind of money into cases like this. It’s just the way they do business, not that they fear them or anything.
Juries are More Likely to Believe you
You probably don’t have much money if you’re being sued by a debt collector, and if you’re representing yourself you are certainly not a trial judge. Judges, debt collectors, and the lawyers who represent debt collectors all have money, and most of them were born into privilege. They’re not usually the people you want making decisions that affect your life because, to be frank, most of them don’t care about you at all. You know who might care about your situation, though? The jury. Nothing’s guaranteed, of course, but I’ve found that a jury is more likely to see things your way. Especially when combined with the chances of getting better evidentiary rulings from the court in jury cases, I think this can make all the difference.
Jury Trials are NOT Scary
It might sound like a jury trial is a bigger deal for a shy or intimidated person, and it is true that they are somewhat more complicated, and you’re playing to people in the jury rather than just the judge. But although that’s true, you will probably find, in real life, that it doesn’t matter. Juries are just as easy to talk to as judges, and if you’re caught up in your case it’s probably even easier to talk to the jury. They’re much more like you than the judge is. I used to think you had to be more “entertaining” for juries than judges, but I don’t think that anymore. If you can stick to your script, that should be good enough: juries will listen as well as judges in my opinion.
There are factors you’ll need to consider as you prepare for the case, but in making your decision on whether or not to demand a jury that’s probably all you need to know. The judge will be more serious, the defendant will like the case less, and the jury will be easier to talk to than the judge and may be fairer. In general. So we suggest you ask for a jury trial. Find out your court’s rules on asking for one before you file your answer if that is possible.
This article updated 3/25/25
Do I Respond, How do I Respond, What do I Respond
DO I Respond, HOW do I Respond, and WHAT do I Respond when Sued for Debt?
We talk elsewhere about what constitutes valid service of a lawsuit, and you should check out that video and article if you have any questions about whether you’ve been served. That makes a large difference in what you should do, and if you have been improperly served, you likely will not want to “answer” the suit at all and may instead want to “move to quash” the suit.
We also discuss elsewhere whether you should respond to a debt collection lawsuit you find out about if you have not been served the complaint. To boil that down to its most essential point, if you have not been served at all – you hear about the suit from a neighbor or look your name up in court files, or a lawyer sends you a letter saying you’re being sued – we usually suggest that you take no action if you don’t have a lawyer. If you do have a lawyer, and the lawyer thinks it’s best to get on with it, that might be a good idea, but as a pro se defendant you won’t be able to shut the case down the way a lawyer might.
Let them serve you if they can, but you have no obligation to help with that process. You don’t have to go down to the sheriff’s office or call the firm suing you or its process server. See if they can get you, and if they can’t the case will be dismissed against you. It actually happens a lot, although not a statistically huge percentage of cases.
If you go this route, you will want to keep an eye on the court files to see if, whether or not they HAVE served you, they claim to have served you, and that brings up a special issue that we discuss elsewhere, too.
If you are Served the Suit
If you get served, your next question will be HOW to respond. If you fail to respond at all, the other side will get a default judgment and start trying to get your stuff, so this is probably not a good idea for you. You’ll need to Answer or file what’s called a motion (in some jurisdictions, like California, you could file what’s called a “demurrer,” which is just another kind of motion). To answer this question, you should first consider what kind of court you’re in. Are you in a small claims court, sometimes called a “magistrate” court? Or are you in a “real” court?
If you’re in a small claims or magistrate court, see our video and article on that.
Assuming you’re in a real court, you’ll need to do two things right off the bat. First, find your state’s Rules of Civil Procedure and look up the part about service of process and motions to dismiss. Some motions to dismiss have to be filed before you answer the petition. Find out if you have one of those – the petition is vague, names the wrong person, or violates certain procedural requirements some states have for debt collectors. If you have one of these, you might be (and almost certainly are) waiving your right to bring the motion if you answer first.
If they claim you were served, but you have some reason to dispute that, you probably need to bring what’s called a “motion to quash” service before you answer (as mentioned above), since answering will be regarded as your consent to the court’s jurisdiction.
If none of those concerns apply to you, you will need to answer the suit. In some states, they have what’s called a “verified petition,” which means that someone swore to the truth of the allegations. If you have that sort of petition, you will need to swear to your answer, and this means getting a notary public to witness the document. But this is rare. In most instances, the petition is an ordinary one signed by the lawyer for the debt collector. If that’s what you’ve got, you will simply want to deny almost all of the paragraphs, one by one, in the petition. Don’t go to absurd lengths and deny your name or address, if those are correct, but you should generally deny all of the other substantive allegations. The legal effect of your denial is to say, “prove it.”
In some states you can file what’s called a “general denial,” which does in one sentence what I just suggested.
If you think you have a counterclaim against the person suing you, you will want to add that to your answer.
We discuss “affirmative defenses” elsewhere, but in general they are facts that, even if what the debt collector says in its petition is true, would mean you don’t owe them money. Most typical of these sorts of defenses are some sort of agreement to settle or address the claim, or the passage of too much time before they brought the suit, called the statute of limitations.
The essence of an affirmative defense is that you bear the burden of proof in showing that these factors exist, and you also must plead them in your answer.
Finally, let’s talk about demanding a jury. Our position is, generally, that debt defendants should ask for a jury. We discuss this in greater length in our article and video on juries, but if you think you want a jury (as we recommend), you need to find out how your court and state require that you demand one. In federal court and some states, it’s enough to say it as part of your answer. In some states, you have to make a separate request by separate pleading. Find out what you are required to do and do that.
If by chance you’re just finding out about this after already starting to defend your case, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily too late. If you have a right to jury trial, the right is absolute when you raise it in the proper way and time, but even if you don’t do it when you should, the court should normally grant your request anyway absent some sort of misbehavior or the passage of too much time, and they are required to be “liberal” in their interpretation of what’s too late. That is, they are supposed to lean towards granting your request for a jury, so even if you’re late, you should go for it if you want one.
This article updated 3/25/25
Receiving Summons: What is “Valid” Service of Process
Receiving Summons: What is “Valid” Service of Process
This question comes up a lot, and I have addressed it before. But for this set of videos I want to give a shorter, sweeter answer. Bear in mind that service of process is the way a court asserts jurisdiction over you – “process” is not the lawsuit, it’s the summons, the sheet of paper from the court, and “service” is the way it’s given to you. If it isn’t done correctly, the court lacks power to control your fate. As you’ll see, the rule isn’t some sort of absolute constitutional requirement – it is constitutionally required, but it can vary under circumstances of practicality. We’ll discuss some of those here.
If you’re in small claims court, there may be special rules regarding service of process. There often are. For example, service by certified mail, or even just first class mail, may be sufficient. If you receive a summons by mail, you should look up the court’s rules on service. Sometimes, even if service by mail is good, there may need to be some proof that you actually received it. Check your rules and see if what you got was good enough. Obviously you don’t want to call them, identify yourself, and ask if receiving service by mail was good enough, since that would be admitting you got it.
If you’re being sued in something other than small claims court, it’s probably going to take more than just the mail. They’re probably going to have to hand you the suit or offer to do so.
Here again, the rule is not absolute. If they offer you the summons, and you refuse it or run away, you will have been served. It isn’t necessary for you to take it for service to have happened, just for it to be offered.
But what if they tack it on your door? Or put it between the screen door and your front door? That’s normally not going to be enough, since there’s no certainty you will be the one getting it, but if that happens, you’ll want to research the question before deciding it wasn’t good enough. Incidentally, if we’re talking about a foreclosure or rent eviction, tacking the suit to the door might be enough to get jurisdiction over the property even if not over you, personally. That would mean that they could evict you if you don’t answer, but not hold you liable if there’s anything else owed.
What about if they give the summons to a neighbor? Probably not enough (check your state’s rules) and possibly a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, too.
How about giving it to you child at the door? This, too, is going to be determined by state rule. Most states have rules that allow service upon residents at a place who are a certain age or above. So ordinarily that would not give a visitor a right to accept service on you, or a child under a certain age.
If you haven’t been served adequately, you may wish to oppose the court’s jurisdiction over you. I actually usually suggest you hire a lawyer to do that for you, since it’s just a more powerful statement and can be done without being tremendously expensive. You would file what’s called a “motion to quash service,” to have it deemed ineffective by the court.
What if they can’t find you or reach you at home? There are other ways you can be served, but usually the plaintiff has to ask for permission to do that. They could serve you “by publication,” which means posting notice in some legal publication. Since no one ever reads those publications, you won’t see that, but if you’re aware they’re trying to reach you, you should follow the case docket and see if they ask for permission to serve you that way. If so and the court gives them permission to do so, you’re probably going to want to go ahead and waive service and ask them to mail you the summons and complaint. But it’s quite rare for debt collectors to take all the trouble to serve by publication for a very good reason: if they can’t find you to serve you, they’re not likely to be able to find your assets to collect on them. Everybody in the debt collection business likes to get paid, and if they don’t think they will be, they usually won’t put in the effort.
As you can see, I generally think the debt collectors should have to put in the effort to serve you. If they can’t, there isn’t much reason for you to make that easier for them. They might drop the suit on you completely. That’s a winner.
[updated 3/26/25]