Defendant in debt lawsuit not attending motion hearings or trial.Default okay, but am I risking jail? Explain.?

Question

Income is Judgement Proof. Went Pro Se. Made mistakes that may lead to case loss or fines. Now want to bail out by no-shows at hearing and trial. Only worry is court impositions leading to possible warrant for my arrest.

Answer 1

If you accepted the notice to be in court then you are S.O.L. because not showing up to court is a crime in and of itself...

If you never accepted a notice then they can't arrest you for not showing up because how were you supposed to know you had to be there?

There are other was to see if you were due in court so I don't know if you accepted the notice or not but if you did, you are screwed.

JUST GO TO COURT!

The credit card/collection agency knows that if they don’t negotiate with you, they will end up getting nothing so they will work with you on the payments…

My father had to go to court because a card went in to default when trying to start our business and they ended up knocking more then half of the remaining debt off because half is better than nothing… And besides… the company already made it’s money back… everything he paid was gravy to them.

GO TO COURT AND TALK TO THE OTHER SIDE BEFORE YOU ARE CALLED BEFORE THE JUDGE.

Bring a check and an idea of how much you can afford monthly and how much you can give the lawyer right then and there.

After you give him the check, the guy will go before the judge and say “We took care of it back there your honor…” and everyone will go on their merry way.

Not showing up will only dig you a deeper hole… Just go and talk to the guy… It isn’t as if they can take away your birthday… Negotiate… They will be nice to you if you are cool with them…

Answer 2

If you cannot afford an attorney, contact your local Red Cross for a referral to the local free legal aide in your area.

Remember that any advise that you get on this board may not be correct. Seek legal counsel.  

Answer 3

They'll get a default judgement against you, but you won't go to jail for failing to show up at a civil trial.  

Answer 4

If you received a subpoena or other court order to appear then you could be charged with contempt of court and arrested for that.

If there is no such order -- I suspect there isn't.  Then you will simply lose, and the Judge will be inclined to find a way around your "judgement proof" income.