Michigan Civil Litigation Legal Questions

Are you the Plaintiff or the Defendant? Obviously you should have been made aware of the adjournment. What is your attorney's explanation for not informing you? If he/she is billing you for the time they spent going to Court, I think you should be credited that amount back based on the information that you provided. Even as a coutesy, whatever travel expenses you incurred could be deducted from the bill. That's what I would do.... Read More

My Firm sued Chase Bank in 2010 after they allowed a purchaser to place a stop payment on a certified check. Their actions would have cost my client $103,000.00. They do not always have the smartest people working for them. One thing to keep in mind is that if you sue Chase, they will hire an army of lawyers to represent them! I would be happy to discuss this with you.... Read More

You can’t remove yourself without the lender’s consent.  You may have co-signed to help your friend, but you obligated yourself to the lender, which has no reason to relieve you of your obligation.  If you had an agreement with your ex-friend that he would refinance when he could, or whenever you asked, then maybe you could force him to refinance, but I assume your agreement to co-sign had no such out. ... Read More

Do you have a judgment from a court on  your claim that you are owed money?  If not, does your contract provide that you can repossess the vehicle even without a judgment?  If not, right now all you have is a claim that you are owed money.  You have to sue on that claim and win befgre you can take steps to use the debtor's assets to satisfy the debt.... Read More

First, anybody can sue anybody for anything, but whether you have a winning claim may depend on the exact provision of your contract, which are not clear to me.  Was your agreement contingent on his receiving funds from the partnership, or was it just that he was supposed to repay you and the partnership proceeds just happened to be the way he expected to fund the repayment?  If the first, the ocntingency appears not to have been fulfilled, and you would likely not succeed.  If the second, you would appear to have a good claim.  Unless your contract expressly provides (which I doubt) that you can attach his assets even before  you obtain a judgment, you can't do anything with his limited partnership interest until and unless you win your suit, and get a judgment.  After that you may be able to collect from his partnership interest, but that's an intangible asset which, although possible, might be complicated to collect from.  For a debt of under $2,000, you would probably collect easier (once you've obtained a judgment) from other assets, like a car, or other income, like salary.... Read More

Assuming that there is no arbitration or forum selection clause in your contract, you can sue in any court that has jurisdiction over the parties.  If a state has jurisdiction over a party (here it would since the suit arises out of a contract which was to be performed in that state), a state court in any county of that state would have jurisdiction.... Read More

Lawyers can't postpone trials, they can only ask that the Court do so.  Whether the Court will depends on many factors, including whether the other side consents, how old the case is, how many times it has been adjourned, how critical is the need for an adjournment, how backed up the Court's docket is, etc.... Read More

If the debtor filed bankruptcy, all actions to collect debts from him/her/it are automatically stayed until the bankruptcy court says otherwisde, and you can get in a lot of trouble for making any collection efforts while the bankruptcy is ongoing.  You have to seek your money in the context of the bankruptcy action.  Without knowing under what bankruptcy chapter the debtor filed, what type of debt was owed (most debts are dischargeable in bankruptcy, but not all), or what if any assets the debtor has, there is no way to tell whether you will be able to recover all or any part of the judgment you are owed. ... Read More

To a degree, there is some responsibility here, but you and your sone (who certainly should not have to put up with this sort of treatment) need to be dogged in letting the powers that be know what is going on and asking for help. If you don't do that, you can't really expect much to happen. Sorry. Good Luck.... Read More