Month: February 2012

If you've been sued by a creditor, you may have noticed that the plaintiff is a company you've never heard of or a bank you've never taken a credit card from - or any money for that matter. So why is that? There are a few reasons:

1. A company purchased your debt. It is not uncommon for credit card companies to sell your debt to other companies, who in turn sue you. Such common companies that I've seen are LVNV Funding, LLC and Midland Funding, LLC.
   • Know that these companies must prove their debt early on. According to the Illinois Agency Collection Act, 225 ILCS 425/8b, an assignment of debt must be manifested by a written agreement. Illinois courts have further held that a plaintiff must attach the assignment to its complaint or recite the language of the assignment in its complaint pursuant to 735 ILCS 5/2-606. See Candice Company, Inc. v. Rickets, 281 Ill. App. 3d 359, 362 (1st. Dist. 1996). If the company does not, then it is grounds for dismissal of the lawsuit.
   
   
2. Your creditor was in a private label agreement with another lending institution.
   • Recently I had a client who opened up a credit card through Sears. Her monthly payments were due to Sears, she would manage her account through a sears.com website, the credit card agreement had Sears written all over it, and her monthly bills stated it was from Sears. But Citibank sued her because it was in

...

Lawyer shows are becoming popular. In the summer Lifetime runs Drop Dead Diva and NBC recently started premiered The Firm, based off John Grisham's novel, though you may be more familiar with the Tom Cruise movie. Being in the legal world long enough, between practice and law school, I tend to forget how people who do not work in the legal field view us. Sometimes when I mention that I regularly venture to court, I get a wide-eyed 'ooo, what's THAT like' response. I remember the first time my dad saw me working on a case and looked at almost puzzled and said 'Like... you're working on a REAL case?' Though this may be due in part to the fact that he's realizing his little girl is all grown up.

Anyways, so these shows... you see them with sensationalist court scenes, clever attorneys that come up with plans on a show-writer can come up with after weeks of creative thing, and the backstabbing, take no-prisoners attitude. Well, let me tell you - that's only half the truth (ok, less than that). Being an attorney is ultimately about advocating for your client - which often means avoiding sensation or even adversarial tactics. Sometimes it just means picking up the phone and having a kind chat with opposing counsel and settling the matter in a civil way. And I've often that works quite effectively. ...