Expert: Creditwrench - 7/14/2010

Question
Hi,  My name is James Lee. I live in California. I used to own a property in Johns, GA, which went into foreclosure. At the time, I did not realize that I stilled owed approx. $900 HOA.  Homeowners association hired a collection attorney. On June 20. 2010.  I received a court summon from the law firm, which says I need to respond within 30 days.  The total amount jumped to $2100 including attorney fee.  The court summon does not have much detail about this amount.  So, I called the attorney to get the breakdown of this charges. A week later he sent me a e-mail describing the details.  He even added charges of the time he spend on phone conversation with me to get the break down.

Anyway,  I live in California.  I can't got to GA court. I am trying to get some sort of settlement with the attorney so I can pay as installment but he said that he will add additional $500. charges.  I sent several e-mails so that I can pay $50/month since I am almost broke.  There is no response.

I guess my question is

1. Can he keep charging me even for the phone conversation with me?
2. He threaten me to add more charges if don't pay now.  Any suggestions?

3. I don't know how to respond to this court summon to GA.  Is there a certain format?  It is considered small claim. I am not sure if there is any attorney in GA who will represent me for this amount.

4. I have to respond in 30 days.  I only got 10 days left.  Any suggestions?

Thanks, James.

Answer
Yes, they can't sue you in Georgia. They have to sue you in the state in which you now reside. The Georgia court has no geographical jurisdiction over you since you are not a resident of georgia. You will need to file a motion to dismiss for lack of geographical jurisdiction. Yes, there is a specific format to file such a motion. Once you file that the Georgia court will have to dismiss and I doubt they will want to file suit in California. It would cost them far too much money to do so and you have a much better chance of winning under California law than you do under georgia law.

How did you find out about the suit in Ga. anyway?

How to prepare and file the papers? Not a problem. That's what I do is teach people how to prepare the paperwork and how to win in court.

I had a great win in Oklahoma Court yesterday. A lawfirm sued me over a car repo by capital one a while back. Among other things I proved that they were trying to double dip on attorney fees. In the course of the hour long hearing the judge told me twice that I need to file motion for summary judgment against the plaintiff and one of those times he told me I ought to demand sanctions against the attorneys in the process. When the hearing was over the Judge said "I'll be looking forward to the next exciting episode in this case." The next exciting episode will be a federal case against the attorneys and they don't have a crying chance of winning that one.

I don't face the music, I'm the leader of the band and the parade stops at the federal court house. My students have won a total of 174 cases in federal courts and you can win this one too.

Bill Bauer
Creditwrench
(405) 237-2174
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