robertldenton
New Member
I own a small business, which recently had a judgment, awarded against it, it was a default judgment as we were changing lawyers and missed the court date. We take responsibility for this and are negotiating with their lawyer for a settlement, but they are playing hardball. The suit involved equipment leases and maintence agreements.
What is very frustrating for me to understand while we missed the court date the facts presented to the court were vague and wrong, for example it asked for equipment to be returned that they already had, maintence services to be paid that were canceled by mutual agreement, referenced equipment and serial numbers that did not exist etc. Problems like this are why we ended up in court the company has a long history of misplaced payments and incorrect invoices.
My question is does the court bear any responsibility in making sure the suit is valid? While I would not expect them to know whether I paid something or who is right or wrong, I would expect them to look at the documentation and make sure it makes sense i.e. the facts presented are backed up with correct documentation for example they asked for a piece of equipment to be returned and they submitted a copy of the contract and attached to that was a copy of a letter that they had removed the equipment 6 months prior.
I had consulted a couple of lawyers and retained one and the only advise I had received so far was negotiate with them or declare bankruptcy.
What is very frustrating for me to understand while we missed the court date the facts presented to the court were vague and wrong, for example it asked for equipment to be returned that they already had, maintence services to be paid that were canceled by mutual agreement, referenced equipment and serial numbers that did not exist etc. Problems like this are why we ended up in court the company has a long history of misplaced payments and incorrect invoices.
My question is does the court bear any responsibility in making sure the suit is valid? While I would not expect them to know whether I paid something or who is right or wrong, I would expect them to look at the documentation and make sure it makes sense i.e. the facts presented are backed up with correct documentation for example they asked for a piece of equipment to be returned and they submitted a copy of the contract and attached to that was a copy of a letter that they had removed the equipment 6 months prior.
I had consulted a couple of lawyers and retained one and the only advise I had received so far was negotiate with them or declare bankruptcy.
