Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia

financial lawsuit

my ex-wife's aunt served me with a civil suit for $30,000 dollars. My ex has $70,000 in credit cards that she hid from me and she ran out of money so the credit card companies wanted their money in full because she was so far behind. Her aunt gave her $30,000 but put the check in my name because she knew that I would pay it. I never agreed to pay it back nor did we sign a promissory note or loan agreement with her aunt. I have since filed for divorce and now her aunt is suing me and not my ex. My lawyer did file and answer denying the claims against me and nothing else has happened. It has been nearly a year now and my ex's aunt said she will not go forward because she knows that she can not win but won't have the case dismissed. How long can this remain pending without any action to move forward for trial before it is dismissed by default.


Asked on 12/23/08, 9:59 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jonathon Moseley Moseley & Associates Law Firm

Re: financial lawsuit

In many Counties, the lawsuit will be dismissed automatically if nothing happens in the lawsuit for a period of time, typically 2 years.

However, it is more typical to take specific actions to establish that the lawsuit should be dismissed. However, these are a lot more work including time and money.

For example, your attorney would typically have filed something called a "Demurrer" or motion to dismiss, not just an answer. If so, you could take the initiative and schedule this for a hearing.

However, if the dispute is purely a dispute about what happened factually, the court will not cut short the lawsuit without a full-blown trial.

There are things you could and should do if pursuing the lawsuit, such as getting "discovery." Information obtained through discovery (excluding depositions) could be used for a motion for summary judgment to cut off the lawsuit.

However, all of these options would be FAR more work than simply doing nothing.

This assumes that you are 100% confident that she will not pursue the lawsuit. If in fact she does pursue the lawsuit, you might not have protected your position if you do nothing in terms of discovery, etc.

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Answered on 12/23/08, 10:34 pm


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