Litigation Defense Pennsylvania
There’s a knock on the door and you see a uniformed person standing there with papers. He/she is from the sheriff’s department. Why is he/she here? Oh no, he/she is serving me papers on a lawsuit! I have been sued? How can this happen? Are they going to take my house or worse? This exact scenario happens across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania every day. Not to worry. Harold Shepley and Associates is here to help. Whether the lawsuit is for your credit card, your unsecured loan, a deficiency balance stemming from an automobile repossession or even a student loan, it is extremely beneficial to have a consumer attorney represent you. Virtually every Complaint filed either with your local District Justice/ Magistrate or the Court of Common Pleas level is legally deficient. Should an individual decide to do nothing after a suit is filed, they lose automatically. This means the creditor has a judgment against that individual with full enforcement rights. You have a much better chance of winning your case and preparing yourself for future success if you hire an attorney. Don’t be one of those who lose their case by choosing not to hire an attorney. We handle cases in all 67 Counties that compose the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
We are different than anyone else
Our firm has the unique ability to help our clients every step of the way no matter what their circumstances. That is the benefit of being a full-service debt relief law firm. Our firm works to handle your situation in a way that meets your individual needs. We use our experience to work your file the best it can be worked. Our team knows in a very short period of time what needs done to be most effective for our clients. We are able to get many cases dismissed for our clients. When we are not able to get the cases dismissed, we are able to work with the creditors to gain the time needed to keep a judgment from being entered and to make a beneficial settlement on our client’s behalf.
The vast majority of those who receive a lawsuit has received the lawsuit on his/her credit card. Others receive lawsuits on an unsecured loan or for a deficiency balance stemming from a repossession. Different legal strategies are used for different types of accounts.
There are many original creditors who file lawsuits. There are also many debt buyers who buy “bad debt” from original creditors for pennies on the dollar and then in turn sue for the full balance. The debt buyer cases are easier to win. Many consumer attorneys out there will only defend these debt buyer cases. No matter who sues you whether it be an original creditor or a debt buyer we are here to help. Odds of winning a case vary depending on who the creditor is and believe it or not where you reside. Our litigation team has years of experience handling these types of lawsuits all over the Commonwealth. We will advise you from the very beginning of our strategy for your individual case.
As stated earlier, virtually every Complaint filed is legally deficient. We will review all your paperwork and file a response based on what is appropriate given your individual circumstances. Many firms out there will defend your credit card case. However, if they are met with any opposition or are not successful then they will try to leave you on your own. No matter what happens with your case we will be there every step of the way to handle your situation and relieve you of your burden. Most of the time no Court Appearance is required by our clients.
If we cannot get your case dismissed, we are extremely successful in buying you enough time to have the funds saved up to settle the lawsuit for the best possible deal we can negotiate on your behalf. It is not uncommon for a lawsuit to take several years to resolve. It is important to hire an attorney to help you through this process. Those who do not file formal responses with the Court automatically lose when the creditor takes a default judgment against you for not filing a response. Judgments are very serious matters. There is a lien against the real estate you own. Judgments also allow creditors to attempt to garnish your bank account for years after obtaining the judgment. Choosing to do nothing now will end up being more costly in the long run.
Many of our clients end up on the wrong end of creditors and/or their attorneys doing something that violates the numerous consumer protection laws enacted by our legislature. From the onset of an individual becoming a client, we send out notice to every single creditor that we are representing the individual and all further communication needs to be through our office. Inevitably a client will still end up years later receiving communication from their creditors. This is a violation of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) and/or the Fair Credit Extension Uniformity Act (FCEUA). There are many situations that arise that end up being a violation of the FDCPA and/or the FCEUA. Our staff is trained to look for and identify any and all potential violations.
The Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct requires that we have a written fee agreement in place before a suit against your creditor can occur. Our attorney will discuss all scenarios with clients before taking any further action. All upfront fees for filing the suit are covered by the law firm and the only fee incurred by our clients for filing a lawsuit on their behalf occurs only if a settlement or judgment occurs. All fees will be explained at the time of settlement or judgment. Typically, almost every case filed by our firm ends up with a prompt settlement that is agreed on by all involved. If you have faced an issue that caused concern to you please contact our office. All questions will be gone over in detail by the attorney. If you have a claim under the FDCPA, you are entitled to statutory damages (between $1 and $1000) plus reasonable attorneys’ fees. If you can prove actual damages as a result of a debt collector’s actions, you can receive those too. The way the FDCPA calls for attorneys’ fees really makes debt collectors settle these claims quickly to avoid racking up attorneys’ fees that they will be responsible for.
There are two other statutes that sometimes are violated. The first is the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). If you are having issues with items that you believe don’t belong on your Credit Report, we can investigate those matters for you. We will make sure all information is being accurately reported. The second is the Telephone Communications Protection Act (TCPA). If you are receiving unwanted calls either on your landline or cell phone, texts or faxes then the TCPA may have been violated. Both of these statutes call for certain and unique damages which we will properly investigate.
- Threats
- Harassment / nuisance phone calls<
- Abusive language
- Unjustified repossession claims
