Legal Question in Civil Litigation in District of Columbia

Limitation of Jurisdiction for Civil Case

As a defendant in a small claims case (which was originally filed for $1,440.00), a motion was granted for the case to be moved to a civil case because the plaintiff increased the amount of the claim to $10,500.00 based on a timeshare property that we signed for and the timeshare company was attempting to collect based on his inability to pay (I'd moved and since he expressed interest in the timeshare, I left it with him; he is now suing me for the entire amount of the timeshare). The court was NOT presented with any evidence of this (contract of the timeshare) and after a recent visit to the courthouse to review the file, I realized that there was NOT a copy of the contract in the files. The documents were signed in Alexandria, Virginia and I am now a Maryland resident. Should I now file for a motioin to dismiss based on the fact that the documents were not signed in the District of Columbia, but in Virigina instead?

Thanks!!


Asked on 9/13/03, 8:26 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: Limitation of Jurisdiction for Civil Case

Although the contract documents were not signed in D.C. but rather Virginia, the plaintiff can still sue you in D.C., and this fact(where the documents were signed) would not be a basis for the court to dismiss the case.

It should be obvious that you, at the very least,

should be consulting with an attorney in order to

have any chance of successfully defending yourself in this case.

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Answered on 9/13/03, 11:26 am


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