Monica’s Unpaid Debt

Monica’s Case

Monica applied for a credit card from Friendly Bank to build her credit. She didn’t overspend and paid on time for five years. Then, she lost her job. She continued to pay her Friendly Bank credit card bill for several months, until her pockets were empty. She moved in with her sister, and for the next six months pounded the pavement looking for a job. During that time, she tried to renegotiate the loan, but Friendly wouldn’t budge. Three weeks after she found work, the bank sued her for unpaid debt. She went to Courtroom5.

Monica Takes Courses and Workshops at Courtroom5

• Monica learns how to analyze her case, identify the issues, and connect elements of a claim to her facts.
• She learns about affirmative defenses and how to use them. She believes she has several.
• Monica learns to set a goal. She just wants a reasonable payment plan, without the extra fees Friendly Bank is charging for missed payments. She wants a settlement.
• Monica learns how to connect her goals to a strategy. Her strategy  is to raise litigation costs for the bank by making it realize it’ll cost more in legal fees to fight her than to settle.
• To carry out her strategy, Monica learns how to stay in as long as she can and file lots of motions, pleadings, and discovery requests.

Monica Uses Courtroom5’s Tools and Community

• Using a guided template in the Documents Tool, Monica begins her defense by writing and filing a Motion for Extension of Time.
• She uses the Filings Tool to upload her motion to her Courtroom5 account, so she can have access to it online.
• She uses the Tasks Tool to mark case due dates and schedule other tasks.
• While waiting for the judge’s decision, she uses the Counts Tool to help her understand all the claims and defenses in the case. That way, she can develop a strategy for going forward.
• With knowledge from her work on the Counts Tool, she uses a template in the Documents Tool to prepare a Motion to Dismiss.
• She begins to also draft her Answer and Affirmative Defenses.
• When the judge grants her Motion for Extension of Time, she uploads the order and takes the extra days he gives her to complete the Motion to Dismiss and prepare discovery requests.

Monica Presses Her Case

• Monica files lots of motions to make the bank’s lawyer work hard.
• After moving to dismiss the claim, she begins discovery.
• After the judge orders her to, she answers and asserts a huge list of affirmative defenses.
• She sends out multiple rounds of discovery.
• Monica conducts several depositions just to keep the bank’s lawyer busy and billing his client.
• She responds to everything the opposition puts out and forces them to compel discovery.
• During a delay in the case, Monica moves to dismiss for failure to prosecute.
• Eventually the bank breaks. It settles the case, offers Monica a fair payment plan, and pays her court costs.

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