Legal Question in Business Law in Iowa

Not given the option to defend self

My husband was recently sued. He had a lawyer in the begining, but his retainer ran out and we could not afford to pay her any more. He recieved, after months of hearing nothing, papers that stated the plaintiff had filed a motion for ''Summary Judgment'', and the court found that the motio should be held. My husband went to the court appointment with all of his paperwork, and was told that he could not defend himself, and that the plaintiff had sent him paperwork that he needed to resond to in order to fight the lawsuit. We never received ANY papers from the Plaintiffs lawyer. Also they stated that they had trouble reaching him because they had an old address, but when they first started the lawsuit and we received papers with all of the accusations, he had to go to the courthouse and reply to the accusations and that had our current address on it. Our only option is going to be to file bankruptcy. Is that even and option? And if not, what other options does he have? Please help us. Thank you.


Asked on 11/02/04, 2:18 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Luedeman solo practitioner

Re: Not given the option to defend self

It sounds like you lost at summary judgment. If you timely filed a notice of appeal or a motion for reconsideration you may have preserved your rights. It also sounds like you did not timely respond to the plaintiff's requests for discovery. Although you did not say so, you may be one of many people who were involved with debt settlement companies recently and were sued by a creditor. If you email me with some specifics I can give you a better idea of what to expect.

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Answered on 11/02/04, 3:38 pm


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