Good News For Debt Defendants:
An Open Letter To People Who Are Being Sued
Dear Harassed Debtor,
You can fight off the lawsuit brought against you by the debt collectors!
We lawyers call them “Zombie-debt collectors”–scavengers that buy old, “dead” debts
from companies that claim you owe them money and bring them back to life. They harass you
and eventually file suit. When they sue you, they try to take more than you ever borrowed. A lot more.
Your financial life is in danger. But even if they have already filed suit you can still
defend yourself. In fact, you can use the lawsuit to help yourself. Don’t bury your head in the
sand. Take a few small steps to protect yourself. All you need is a little help.
Now you can get that help. You can feel safe again!
The Ostrich Approach to a Lawsuit
When the process server gave the summons and lawsuit to Joe Ostrich he had about a
week before he was supposed to be in court. Joe was embarrassed and scared by the lawsuit. He
didn’t have a lawyer. And he felt guilty, too, because he had always tried to pay his bills.
Since he didn’t know what to do, Joe pretended nothing had happened at all. He told
himself that since he’d never heard of the company suing him there was no problem. Or that
because he had never borrowed anywhere near as much money as the company wanted it
couldn’t beat him. Joe put the summons in a drawer and tried to forget about it. I’m sure you
know how well that worked!
Joe didn’t go to court on the day mentioned in the summons, and he was jumpy all day.
When nothing had happened to him by that night, though, Joe felt a little relieved. After a couple
more days he felt even better. He was still nervous, but he had begun to hope that somehow
nothing had happened. He told himself that if anything bad was going to happen someone would
tell him–that he would somehow get another chance.
Joe didn’t know that the debt collector had gotten a judgment against him and sent it to
the “garnishment” section of the courts for preparation. He didn’t know that the system was
already working against him.
A month later at 5:00 on a Friday afternoon, Joe found out.
That afternoon when Joe got his paycheck he noticed it wasn’t as big as usual. A fourth of
it had been taken by the debt collector through the garnishment process. No one at his company
had told him this was coming, so Joe hadn’t prepared for the sudden reduction in take-home pay.
Not that he could have done much to prepare anyway–it was hard enough to make ends meet on
the whole paycheck. He needed it all.
And this was only the beginning of Joe’s problems. A day later it got much worse.
You see, without any notification, the debt collector had taken its judgment to Joe’s bank
and seized his bank account. The bank took its time writing to tell Joe about this. Then, when Joe
tried to pay his bills by check, the checks all bounced. And every bounced check resulted in fees
to the bank and problems with another creditor. Even before he had gotten the letter from the
bank telling him his account had been seized, he had angry letters from three different creditors
and a “service interruption notice” from the electric company. Joe and his family were now
facing financial ruin.
Suzy Smallsteps Protects Herself
When Suzy Smallsteps got served, she was just as scared and embarrassed as Joe Ostrich
had been. She thought she recognized the account she was being sued on (although it was old and
much bigger than she remembered), but she’d never heard of the company suing her. Suzy
looked for help. And she found it at YourLegalLegUp.com.
With this help, Suzy understood what was happening to her. She overcame some of her
fears and got ready to defend herself. Using the free bonus forms provided as a guide, she wrote
and filed her “Answer” with the court. She noticed that the debt collector had broken some laws
itself when it filed its suit against her. So she added a “Counterclaim” to her Answer. Then she
sent some simple requests for information to the debt collector. That all took her less than an
hour, and although she was still nervous, she felt a little better because she knew she had taken
some action to protect her rights.
She got all the sample forms she needed from the same place.
When Suzy went to court at the time and place the summons mentioned, she knew what
to expect. The lawyer for the debt collector tried to bully her into giving up on the lawsuit, but
Suzy was prepared. She knew you don’t win them all, but like all debt case defendants she had
little to lose by fighting–and everything to win. So she braved it out for about thirty seconds. And
when she didn’t give up, the lawyer for the debt collector “continued” the case (that’s legalese for
“rescheduled”) for the following month. It was remarkably easy.
The debt company did not give Suzy the information she had asked for, so she filed a
“Motion to Compel” with the court. Then, when the second court date came, Suzy went back to
court. Already she felt more comfortable because she had already been there once, and she asked
the judge to force the debt collector to provide the answers or dismiss the suit. The judge looked
sternly at the company’s lawyer and ordered him to give Suzy the information within ten days.
Ten days later, the debt collector still did not give Suzy the information she’d asked for.
Instead, it called Suzy and offered to dismiss its lawsuit against her if she would agree to dismiss
her counterclaim against it. Suzy agreed on condition that the suits would be dismissed “with
prejudice” (the silver bullet that kills debts for good) and the debt collector would withdraw any
negative credit references it had put on her credit report. The debt collector agreed. Suzy didn’t
have to pay the debt collector anything. Not one thin dime.
Why did the debt collector give up on its suit against Suzy Smallsteps?
The debt collector knew that for every one Suzy Smallsteps, there were fifty Joe
Ostriches. So rather than fight against the one person who would fight back, the debt collector
shuffled off in search of the fifty who wouldn’t. That made all the sense in the world for the debt
collector. Plus, Suzy had an excellent chance of winning the suit anyway. Why face the risk when
it’s so easy to find people who won’t stand up for themselves?
Suzy had a nice celebration that night. Her life had gotten a little better. Not only had she
won in court, she had made an old debt disappear for good and helped her credit rating. She felt
safer.
In less than five hours of her time, Suzy had saved herself $1500. That’s $300 an hour–
far more than most people could have earned in the same time. And the satisfaction of protecting
herself and standing up to the debt collectors was worth even more than that. If the lawsuit had
been for $2,500 or more she would have had the same results–only her savings would have gone
up. And even if the debt collector had chosen to fight longer, or even if it had taken the case all
the way to trial, Suzy would have known how to take care of herself.
I’ve Seen A Lot During My Career As A Lawyer
I have practiced law in St. Louis, Missouri for almost twenty years. For the last seven
years my practice has focused on consumer law–protecting people from predatory lenders, debt
collectors, and rip-off merchandisers. I’ve seen a lot during my years.
I’ve been in court countless times–listening to judges reading from long lists of names of
debt defendants being sued by debt collectors. When the defendants don’t answer, the debt
collectors get “default judgments.” The debt collectors can get several hundred thousand dollars
worth of default judgments in an hour.
I’ve also seen hundreds of people go into court at the appointed hour just so they could
beg the debt collector for mercy or to make some kind of bargain. And they made deals with the
lawyers that almost guaranteed that the worst thing that could happen to them would happen.
And gave the debt collectors much more money than they had to.
I’ve seen the debt collectors’ lawyers take a handful of judgments down the hall into the
garnishment office and begin the process of seizing bank accounts and garnishing wages.
And I’ve talked to countless numbers of people being sued. Almost all of them were
scared. Most of them had never been in court before.
And none of them had a lot of extra money.
If You Had A Lot Of Money You Wouldn’t Need A Lawyer
Most of the people being sued by debt collectors always wanted to pay their bills, but they
had financial troubles. You might say that if they had enough money to hire a lawyer to protect
themselves, they wouldn’t need one in the first place. I typically charge my clients 20% of the
amount they are being sued for (with a minimum of $350) to represent them in a debt collection
suit.
I’ve often had to tell people how much my fees were going to be and watch them decide
what they were going to have to sacrifice to hire me. Were they going to skip a month’s rent and
hope they didn’t get evicted? Would they skip important medication? I save them a lot of money
and heartache, but it’s a painful decision, and all too often people haven’t been able to afford my
fee.
I’ve done enough of this kind of law to be able to do it more efficiently than most other
lawyers. It can also be very difficult to find a lawyer who will defend debt collection cases at
all–most lawyers won’t touch them because they aren’t glamorous, big-dollar cases for wealthy
clients. The ones who hired me were the lucky ones. But there’s not enough of me to go around.
“You should write a book,” some of my would-be clients have said. And now I have.
Finally, I can offer debt defendants an alternative. I can help them help themselves.
You Need A “Leg Up”
The debt collectors have a lot of lawyers working against you. To win, you need help–you
need someone to give you a leg up.
This isn’t brain surgery. It isn’t even all that hard if you know what you’re doing. And
you can learn what to do to protect yourself pretty quickly if someone with experience helps you.
Now there’s a place where you can get the help you need. YourLegalLegUp.com Litigation
Manual.
You Can Defend Yourself
You can get all the information you need to defend yourself from the debt collectors in
one powerful, easy-to-read Litigation Manual. If you order now, you’ll receive sample forms for
everything you’re likely to need as a free bonus. You’ll get easy instruction along with insight
into the way the debt collectors think and act. You’ll never be at a debt collector’s mercy again.
They say that “knowledge is power.” YourLegalLegUp Litigation Manual gives you the
knowledge and power to defend yourself from the Debt collectors. It’s so powerful you have to
promise not to give or show it to the debt collectors in order to get your copy.
YourLegalLegUp Litigation Manual
I said that “knowledge is power.” Actually, that’s not quite true, is it? You do need to
know what you’re doing. But you also need certain practical tools. And you need the motivation
to use them to stand up for yourself. You’ll get the knowledge and the tools in YourLegalLegUp
Litigation Manual. And you’ll get the motivation you need.
Fear And Guilt Are Your Main Enemies
Let me be frank. In my long years as an attorney, I’ve spoken to hundreds of people being
sued by debt collectors. All of them felt scared. One Supreme Court Judge said that “next to
death, the thing most to be feared is a lawsuit.” And that’s true...to an extent. But you would
probably be shocked to realize how stacked–in your favor–the odds are in these cases. You’ll see
why the debt collectors depend on you to give up. If you fight they really don’t want any part of
you.
And most of my clients have felt guilty about the debt they were being sued for. They
usually had borrowed some money from some company, but they certainly didn’t borrow as
much as the debt collector was suing them for. And they didn’t borrow it from the debt collector.
Why should you feel guilty about not paying them?
There’s a section in the Litigation Manual that should cure you for good of your feelings
of fear and guilt regarding these scavenger debt collectors.
It’s All Here In One Place
All the information you will need to defend yourself from the debt collectors is in the
handbook: Your Legal Leg Up Litigation Manual.
Now you can go into court without feeling like a lamb going to the slaughter. The Litigation Manual contains knowledge distilled from my eighteen years of practice as a litigation
attorney.
From talking to hundreds of clients over the years I know that the people who need this
service don’t have a lot of spare time to try to figure out what things mean. The Litigation Manual is written in plain English. It’s easy to read.
You don’t want to go into court or talk to the debt collector’s lawyer without knowing
what you’re doing. The Litigation Manual explains the legal process. From what a lawsuit is to
what a courtroom looks like. It explains who you will see and where you will sit when you get
there. It explains the laws behind the suit against you–and the laws that give you powerful
counterclaims against the debt collectors. It tells you the rules you will need to know to defend
yourself.
There’s even a glossary that defines in plain English all of the legal mumbo-jumbo you’re
likely to see or hear from the other side. You won’t be confused by legalese.
Just as importantly, the Litigation Manual also tells you what makes the debt collectors
tick, why you have a chance to defend yourself in court, and how to maximize that chance. It
gives you the power to hurt the debt collectors in the only place they are vulnerable–their wallets.
And after you make the debt collectors go away, it gives you some hints on how to keep them
from coming back.
What Is Driving The Debt Collectors Away Worth To You?
I don’t know exactly what this Manual is worth to you.
I don’t know how much you’re being sued for, but I do know that most defendants are
sued for anywhere between $500 and $50,000. The Litigation Manual will work for you no
matter where your case falls in that range.
I don’t know if you can get a lawyer at all, but I do know that if you could it would cost
you hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars in legal fees. And I do know that without a powerful
defense you will probably pay the debt collector the whole amount you are being sued for.
I don’t know how much you consider defending yourself would be worth. But I do know
that the people like you I’ve helped have come out of the suit with new self-respect and hope.
How much is that worth? It can’t be put into a number. It’s life-changing.
The Litigation Manual took hundreds of hours to write–it was painstakingly crafted to be
useful to people under the high stress presented by litigation. It distills several years of
experience in the kind of case you’re facing–both my own experience and insights gained from
my conversations with other lawyers who represent or oppose the debt collectors.
I regularly bill my clients $175 per hour. If it would take me ten hours to represent you,
my fee would be $1,750. Let’s face it–if this Manual cost what it was worth most of the people
who need it would never be able to afford it.
Rock-Solid Guarantee
I put my heart into the Litigation Manual and spent hundreds of hours compiling it
because I believe it is what people being sued by debt collectors need to protect themselves
when I can’t be there to do it for them. I believe you will find the Manual far more valuable
than I’ve told you it is. But if for any reason this product does not live up to your expectations,
you will receive a full refund at your request.
You Must Act To Protect Your Rights
I am placing a tremendous amount of information at your disposal. If you are being sued,
the debt collectors are planning to take you for all they can get. You must act quickly to protect
your interests. Try Your Legal Leg Up Litigation Manual risk free without delay and see how
quickly you can regain control over your financial life.
Sincerely,
Kenneth H. Gibert
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