An example
So, for example, if you’ve requested information on “all previous owners of the debt,” you could explain in your motion to compel that the plaintiff must prove…
(1) that he is the rightful owner of the debt, and you have the right to test every link in the chain between him and the original creditor to make sure the transfer was good (otherwise the rightful owner could sue you again! ), Y…
(2) the plaintiff must prove that he has not paid any of the previous debts to any of the previous owners, and you are equally entitled to try to prove that he did. You need the information to gather such evidence to make your case and prove theirs. Those are the fundamental purposes of discovery.
If You Must File a Motion to Bind, Press Hard for Everything
Do you see how much sense all that makes? Debt collectors hate to provide information about how much they paid on debts, but you need to know what the terms of that transaction were because in many cases debt transactions are “recourse” meaning that if you don’t pay, the collector of debts has the right to repay the debt to the original creditor. Maybe it’s even automatic! That would mean that the debt collector is not the right person to sue you.
The case would have to be dismissed.
If you win on this point alone and require the debt collector to provide you with complete records of the debt purchase transaction, the collector will almost certainly drop the case against you. They really hate revealing the terms they bought the debt on!
Discovery responses are typically public
Unless they can get a court order for “special reasons,” any discovery is public knowledge. If you want, you can publish it on a website. Consider what you can do to them… Push here and you’ll have them sweating, all right.
Okay, so you have to work very hard and fast to include all of this material in your motion to bind and get the motion to bind filed (and served) as soon as possible. And that?
After the motion is made, what then?
It depends. Check your local rules again and ask the court clerk what to do next.
Basically, the court will take things from there after the debt collector files an answer (which you can respond to), this is highly unlikely, or you will have to do something to get the court to act. This is called “calling the motion” or “setting the motion for argument.” That is putting the motion on the court file for arguing in front of the court.
Set the argument motion as soon as possible.