How The Kala Law Firm Professional Corporation Helped A Client Tackle A Settlement
Very often, people who get sued by a debt buyer don’t respond to the lawsuit, until they are faced with the unpleasant reality that a default judgment has been entered against them. A default judgment is passed when you don’t submit a written answer to a lawsuit against you. When the court enters a default judgment, it gives the debt buyer everything they are asking for.
Sometimes people get served with a lawsuit and don’t know what to do, so they do nothing. At other times, the debt buyer gets permission to serve a person through the mail and mails the complaint and summons to the wrong address. The danger of allowing a default judgment against you is once this occurs, the debt buyer can garnish your wages and your bank accounts.
At Kala Law Firm Professional Corporation, the firm has several clients who have had their wages and bank accounts garnished every week and didn’t even know a judgment had been entered against them.
In these situations, the firm works hard to find a solution for the clients. Keep reading to learn about how the firm helped a client who was pursuing a settlement with a default judgment.
The Challenge: Undoing a default judgment.
In one particular situation, the client was unaware that there was a lawsuit against them. It was only weeks later that the client learned that they had not just a lawsuit, but a very large default judgment on their credit report.
The client approached the firm as they needed to negotiate a settlement on this default judgment, but they neither wanted to pay too much for a settlement nor have a long drawn out legal battle.
Generally, when a default judgment has been entered against you, you can either ask the court to set aside the default judgment and give you an opportunity to contest it, or settle the debt with the debt buyer for an amount less than what the default judgment is for, or eliminate the default judgment completely, by filing for bankruptcy.
As the client sought a settlement, and the firm's challenge was to get the debt buyer to accept the firm's reasons for a settlement.
The Solution: the firm played on the client’s weak financial position.
After considering all the options available to the client, the firm finalized the strategy needed to employ. The plan was to analyze the client’s financials and prepare a settlement offer which capitalized on their weak financial position. The firm shared the client’s financial statements with the opposing counsel to convince their client that the money they were seeking was not going to be available.
The most challenging aspect of this case was the time constraints. The firm needed to read through extensive amounts of financial documents, as well as make court appearances as the contesting party was simultaneous initiating court action while the settlement was being negotiated.
Though we were able to formulate a plan and strategize quickly, obtaining the settlement took around a month due to the extensive financials which needed to be reviewed. In the end, the firm successfully received a settlement, and the client settled the debt and avoided any legal battles.
*past results are not necessarily indicative of future results*
The Bottom Line
At Kala Law Firm Professional Corporation, the firm offers direct and personable legal services for debt-related matters, real estate closings, family law, wills and estates, and corporate law. Kala Law Firm Professional Corporation offers consulting services in the Mississauga, Toronto, Oakville, Brampton, and Milton area. To get started, get in touch by clicking here. To learn more about how the firm can help you, please click here. Or to read what clients are saying about the firm, please click here.