Where to Start When Your Business is Being Sued

It is unwise to ignore someone who files a Lawsuit against you. You may not show up in court to respond. You might wonder if you have any rights when sued for this reason. Each of the fifty states in the United States have differences in credit law. There may be states that have the same legal regulations, while others do not. These small differences can be important hence the need to contact The Weisblatt Law Firm when someone files a lawsuit against you.

These are differences you should know about. When you do not hire a lawyer to defend you, it is possible to have a default judgment filed against you. One reason is the existence of a debt purchasing industry. This newly-popular business is performed by debt purchasers who buy up debt for a low amount of money. Sometimes they acquire the debt for pennies on the dollar.

Then, these debt purchases hire an attorney specializing in collections. That attorney will file a lawsuit against the person who owes the debt. Texas laws allow a four-year period in which to sue the debtor. There are damaging repercussions if you allow yourself to have a judgment filed against you.

You may be a homeowner. In that case, a judgment will appear on the title of the property and make it difficult to sell or refinance the house. You cannot be forced to sell your home in the state of Texas. However, the person to whom you owe the money will be able to get a garnishment against your bank account if you have one. Business law is largely the same. Business laws are written to establish fairness and a means of resolving disputes. The process is orderly and predictable, even if the outcomes are not always assured. Following is the process your attorney guides you through in business-to-business litigation:

*ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) – This is a court-supervised approach to avoiding litigation, seeking to resolve the dispute in a speedy, efficient and inexpensive way. Both parties must agree to participate in this process.

*File the claim – Your attorney formally makes this filing to the court and the defendant, stating your dispute and asking for a specific settlement.

*Discovery – Both plaintiffs and defendants, must be amenable to allowing business records to be examined by the other party in gathering evidence. Employees and agents may be required to provide testimony in advance as well.

*Proceed to trial – If pre-trial attempts at settlement are unsuccessful, the plaintiff and defendant must meet in court to make their arguments. The court will render its judgment at the close of the trial.

*Appeals court – If a matter of how the trial was conducted is in dispute, or new evidence surfaces that is germane, a higher court can rule on the judgment. At times, decisions can be reversed.

Although your wages from employment cannot be garnished for this purpose, bank accounts can. They can also seize property if it is non-exempt. They can file for a writ of execution, and the sheriff will show up at your home to take any non-exempt property from you. Also, the judgment is placed on your credit report as a matter of public record. It remains there for ten years. It can be renewed for another period in the end the decade.

You can avoid all these repercussions. When you hire an attorney, he or she can defend you against litigation. It can even be dismissed in certain cases.