Legal Question in Consumer Law in Missouri

Re: Missouri Borrowing Statute

Given the set of facts that you've asserted, I believe your analysis is correct, however, that does not mean that you will not be sued.

Often times collections attorneys ignore the statute of limitations and sue anyway. They do things like omitting the date of default and the date of repossession (the right to sue does not accrue until there is a breach of contract) from the petition so there are no dates to help the court. Then they assert the facts that you owe the money and they bring the lawsuit. Since 95% of people never show up in court, this lets them trample all over the rights of the debtors.

Under Missouri law, a statute of limitations defense is an affirmative defense upon which you have the burden of proof unless the facts are plain from the pleadings. In this case, you can count on the collector not to put any dates in the petition. If you take no action, assuming that the statute of limitations protects you, you'll get a default judgment against you which will be hard to attack later.

Thus if you DO get sued, you want to file a motion to dismiss citing the NC law and the MO borrowing statute. Since you entered into the contract in NC, and breached the contract in NC, (and since there is likely a clause applying NC law in the contract), you should prevail so long as you go to court. But DO NOT ASSUME anything. If you get sued, show up in court and defend.

Also, if sued, you may want to contact a lawyer who represents debtors under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and have him/her pursue a counterclaim; if the collection case is legally barred it would be a violation of the FDCPA to sue you.

Good luck.