I and two other people have been served summons to appear in a Tennessee court to answer in a civil action for Breach of contract and damages to a home that supposedly happened 4 months ago and we are just now being served. I was served yesterday the 21st and the court date was for the 26th.
I called the Deputy clerk of the court to find out if this case would be heard or if it was just to answer to it by a guilty or not guilty plea. They said it was to be heard but that the plaintiff's attorney had postponed until March 11th. I would not have known this if I hadn't called because the clerk was told "when the parties showed up in court to tell them it had been postponed". I will gladly go into more detail if needed.
I plan on representing myself and my question to the forum is this:
How do I go about obtaining evidence from the plaintiff's attorney?
Is there a document that I can obtain from the court and have served on their attorney for things such as pictures showing damage done (which there cannot be any) and all evidence or witnesses they plan on using, to help in defending myself?
Is this civil or criminal? If it is civil then the court/attorney is not following proper procedures unless you are just a witness.
You shoud be served with a summons and complaint and the court has to give you time to file an answer prior to setting a court date. You can also serve a request for production on the plaintiff. Most courts have their rules and forms online.
Only in a criminal case would you enter a guilty or not guilty plea.
Is this civil or criminal? If it is civil then the court/attorney is not following proper procedures unless you are just a witness.
You shoud be served with a summons and complaint and the court has to give you time to file an answer prior to setting a court date. You can also serve a request for production on the plaintiff. Most courts have their rules and forms online.
Only in a criminal case would you enter a guilty or not guilty plea.
To answer your question this is a civil case or lawsuit I guess. The summons says civil summons, Court of General Sessions and to appear and answer in a civil action brought by the Plantiff.
I was told by the clerks office the case would be heard when I showed up to court,nothing about giving me time to file an answer prior to the court date. What or who should I talk to about that. Also what procedures are they not following, it has me as a defendant not as a witness?
You also mention Iwpat that I can serve a request for production on the plantiff. Do I serve the plantiff or their attorney with this, and, could I pick this form up at the Court house? They have no forms online.
I looked up all on my own the Tennessee rules of civil procedure and request to produce and will follow through. I hope I can come back for more advice if need be.
I thought I could use these forums to get sound legal advice and to help me in defending myself. If I could figure it all out on my own then I wouldn't have registered here.
This is a free forum and the amount of advice you can get is limited since SJ broke our crystal ball last month. There are 50 states and a myriad of rules for each state. We do not have the time or inclination to do your research for you. That is why people hire attorneys.
You can Google for a typical answer to a complaint and also for a request for production. If you go to the clerk of court she may help by letting you look at similar lawsuits.
If you are responsible, my suggestion is to call the attorney and offer to settle your part and be dismissed as a party to the suit. Otherwise file an answer with the court within 30 days of service or you can be defaulted. I have never seen a summons without this information but who knows about Tenn.
