Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Florida

You are not "stuck" !!

There MAY be no acceptable way to explain or justify a bill for cleaning going from $400.00 to $1,000.00. A wrong may be afoot here, very particularly if you did not sign a written contract for cleaning services or you did sign a cleaning contract but the contract does not provide for attorney's fees to the Plaintiff. Please also note that Plaintiff's court filing fee, by itself, would have been quite considerable. You need to take that into account in deciding which course of action you should take.

When you say your nemisis "took it to court" does that mean you did not appear and the court case is over through means of a "default"?

If the law suit is over, the courts often still bend over backwards to be fair.

You have one year from the order/judgment against you to file a "Motion for Relief From Judgment, Decrees, or Orders". The one year (from the final judgment, if there is one) is an absolute deadline. The Florida Rules of Civil Procedure are online [Rule 1.540(b)].

In your motion for Relief from Judgment you need to set forth a chronology of events and question the great leap forward from $400.00 to $1,000.00. If the increase was due to attorney's fees you should also have the right to question the "reasonableness" of those fees if the court reopens the case. With a ruling favorable to you, then the collection attorney will have to hire an expert (usually a local attorney) to be called to court to testify.

Also if the judgment against you is vacated you have the right to set up a counterclaim against the cleaning services for inferior work which you had to complete. However this may not be the way to go because then you would need a hired expert to quantify the value of your work. You must be totally honest here and only write out a counterclaim if true.

Do not let the collection attorney (or even the judge) tell you that you have to pay Plaintiff's fees incurred in contesting fees if and when your "Relief" motion is granted. That is not the law in Florida. Fees to determine fees are not collectable (unlike in Federal Court), though it seems that the law here will soon be changing. Under more recent law, as well, Plaintiff's attorney will also have to produce time sheets. A claim for fees without time sheets does not come to the court in good grace.

Another matter. Were you sued as a corporation, LLC., or partnership--- or individually or through a statutority permitted fictitious fee ("d/b/a")? That could make a difference if you were sued and judgment enterest against the wrong entity. The same question goes for the Plaintiff and, once again, the answer to the question could make a difference.

I am assuming you presently do not have the funds to formally engage an attorney so you may wish to call your County's Legal Aid Services.

Again, you are, perhaps, far away from a final day of reckoning.

If all fails you should get in touch with a government funded credit counselor who will hopefully be able to (1) reduce the amount of the entire judgment, and (2) work out a payment plan for the resulting balance.

The above is not a legal opinion. To obtain that you would have to formally engage a Florida attorney (through Legal Services or otherwise) and confer.

Retain counsel to defend. Time is of the essence.