Legal Question in Administrative Law in California

Who is it that called her to court and was their paperwork? We would need further information. Unfortunately some dishonest bill collecters will tell people they have to go to court when it is not true.

This is mildly suspicious, because (a) demands that someone appear in court are always (as far as I can recall, at least) accompanied by some kind of paperwork, and (b) it is never necessary (as far as I know) for an individual to be represented by an attorney. There is some likelihood that the call was not genuine; either a prank, a crank or an attempt to collect a bill. However, I would take the call seriously, as your grandmother may have lost the paperwork, or perhaps it was mis-delivered. If your grandmother is being called to court, the possible reasons might include (a) she has been served with an original lawsuit; (b) she is being subpoenaed to appear as a witness; or (c) she is a judgment debtor and is being called to appear at a debtor's examination. There may be other reasons. If you can determine (or already know) which court (state or federal, etc.), you can check the court's Web sites for any occurrences of her name as a party to any present or past litigation that's on file. This might help you to figure out what's going on. Another possibility is to phone the court (or courts) where there may be a proceeding of some kind in which she is a party or a witness subject to call before the court -- but telephoning the courts these days takes time and patience.

Neither do we, other than that she may be involved in a civil or a criminal case of some kind. Review the paperwork she was given to see what this is about. This sounds very odd.

A little free advice for criminal cases: exercise the 5th Amendment right to SHUT UP and do NOT talk to police or anyone about the case except with and through an attorney. Whether civil or criminal, if you don't know how to represent yourself effectively against an experienced prosecutor or attorney intending to 'beat you', then hire an attorney who does.

If serious about hiring counsel to help in this, and if this is in SoCal courts, feel free to contact me. I�ll be happy to help sort this out and if necessary, fight and get the best outcome possible.