- Report: #250196
Complaint Review: AIS SERVICES LLC & HULL & ASSOCIATES PC - Houston Texas
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AIS SERVICES LLC & HULL & ASSOCIATES PC
6200 Savoy Suite 440 Houston, 77036 Texas, U.S.A.
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713-952-1700
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AIS SERVICES LLC & HULL & ASSOCIATES PC Filed Fraudulent law suit Ripoff Houston Texas
DAVID VS GOLIATH
FIGHTING A DEBT COLLECTOR IN COURT!
It can only be described as a shock when the man standing at the door hands you a bundle of official looking papers saying you have been served. Hands shaking, I thumb through the maze of legalese mumbo jumbo which in essence accuses me of not paying an old credit card debt. No, the law suit was not from a credit card company but from some company in California, AIS Services, claiming rights as an assignee to collect in their place. In other words they supposedly obtained an old debt for pennies on the dollar and now fully plan to extract my last drop of blood using the Court as their scalpel.
A little history is in order that should bring some empathy. I am a senior citizen who had open heart surgery and seven heart stints over the years. I was forced to stop working in 2002 because of congestive heart failure (CHF) and survive on a meager Social Security check, hardly a basis of wealth worthy of a law suit. Last year I was diagnosed with cancer. Self employed and having no health insurance was the culprit for my former debts, but I did my best to pay what I owed. In 2005 I refinanced and cashed out all the equity on my home, with the condition set by the lender that they first pay off all my credit card debt from loan proceeds. They did so. I returned to sleeping at nightsuntil now!
I could recount the horrors I have discovered about the multi billion dollar Debt Collectors Industry, but this is instead about the horrors of dealing with the legal system where justice is far less important than procedure and, a mans right to his day in Court is more myth than reality. Only a fool represents himself is an absolute truism, but without money one is given little choice. Legal Aid and pro bono lawyers do not have the time to deal with credit card cases. If you cannot afford a lawyer, you are on your own. I knew from the law suit preamble this could not be ignored. I had to answer this suit within 20 days and if I didnt I was dead meat. The vultures would quickly descend on me and pick my bones clean. Since I did not owe the debt I was confident the Court would read my Answer then dismiss this whole mess. I clearly denied in writing each of their contentions and filed it with the Court. Easy as pie, but everything from this point goes downhill.
I may toss legal words and documents around as if I know what I am talking about. I do not! The Business Law courses I took to earn my degree from U of H hardly prepared me for what has followed. Know ye, know ye, the legal system is entirely stacked against anyone defending themselves (called Pro Se). Do not look for help from the Judge (at least not mine) who surely considers me a fool for trying to represent myself and I suspect, resents that she must review my amateur attempts at playing lawyer.
Cleverly included in the law suit was a Request for Disclosures and Request for Admissions section, due 30 days after the Answer deadline. Now these are lists of documents you must furnish their lawyers and questions designed to get you to admit things even if untrue. Confident my first Answer would resolve this mistaken law suit I missed the second deadline. A few days later I was slapped with a Motion for Summary Judgment for missing the date. A trial date had not even been set. This scared the heck out me. A Summary Judgment is what the lawyers dream foryou lose and they win on a procedural technicality, even if it was a not legitimate law suit!
I mustered up what I thought was a good logical defense and filed a Motion to Deny the Summary Judgment. It was my Motion however that was denied and shortly thereafter I received a Court notice the case was being referred to Mediation. It was demanded I pay $400 for this service. Hmm! Here I am, a fool representing myself for lack of money, and the Judge wants me to pay $400 to a mediator. I was getting upset now and fired off a Defendants Objection to Mediation. It was rejected. To make a long story short in between there were Interrogatories, Notice of Service, Judgments and zillions of technical words and documents that I spent days and nights researching. Even when I thought I had made compelling pleas, they always seemed to be procedurally wrong.
For you to determine this case for yourself you must know some facts: (A) The full legal name of the original credit card company was absent in the suit. The assignor was just referred to as Providian. This could have been Providian Realty, Providian Insurance Co. or Providian Rip Off, Inc. which I suspect is the real case. (b) The account number was entirely wrong and was in fact an account number of another totally unrelated and long resolved Chase Manhattan Bank credit card (evidence fully documented). Only intentional fraud could have linked these two together. (c) I had no such debt and the only evidence they offered was a crudely typed few line Statement of Account given legitimacy by a claimed agent who swore that the account was accurate. This sworn affidavit was on the Houston attorneys, Hull & Associates P.C. heading paper, but suspiciously notarized by a California notary. There was no way to trace the agent, question him, or subpoena him as a witness. (d) The Plaintiff blatantly ignored my own discovery requests, the very crime they used as the basis for their Motion for Summary Judgment. (c) Finally, to add insult to injury, two more totally unrelated companies have sent me notices that they were assigned or purchased this same Providian debt and are attempting to collect. I filed a Motion to Dismiss based on these facts which, without explanation was denied and the case again referred to Mediation. Sadly, the Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment remains alive and is now scheduled for oral hearing on June 13. The Judge mysteriously ordered my trial would be a non-jury trial even though I had paid the $22 for the case to be heard by a jury. Further, she reset the trial date from June 23 to September 24. Why? Time is an uncertain commodity for this old man. Any hope of getting justice in the Court is fast fading.
In the last few weeks I have spent two days in the hospital from stress and my wife has asked for a divorce (no joking), all stemming from this ridiculous law suit. This continuing legal saga has diluted my faith and all confidence in the American legal system, but more than this it demonstrates that Lady Justice can be abusive, unfair and incredibly blind if one is poor. Procedures are needed to efficiently expedite matters through the legal system, but when used as an instrument to deny an indigent person his day in Court it makes a mockery of our laws. I can offer no advice to the victims of this broken system. All I can do is pledge I will never stop trying to right what is wrong in my case.
Fred
Rock Port, Texas
U.S.A.
FIGHTING A DEBT COLLECTOR IN COURT!
It can only be described as a shock when the man standing at the door hands you a bundle of official looking papers saying you have been served. Hands shaking, I thumb through the maze of legalese mumbo jumbo which in essence accuses me of not paying an old credit card debt. No, the law suit was not from a credit card company but from some company in California, AIS Services, claiming rights as an assignee to collect in their place. In other words they supposedly obtained an old debt for pennies on the dollar and now fully plan to extract my last drop of blood using the Court as their scalpel.
A little history is in order that should bring some empathy. I am a senior citizen who had open heart surgery and seven heart stints over the years. I was forced to stop working in 2002 because of congestive heart failure (CHF) and survive on a meager Social Security check, hardly a basis of wealth worthy of a law suit. Last year I was diagnosed with cancer. Self employed and having no health insurance was the culprit for my former debts, but I did my best to pay what I owed. In 2005 I refinanced and cashed out all the equity on my home, with the condition set by the lender that they first pay off all my credit card debt from loan proceeds. They did so. I returned to sleeping at nightsuntil now!
I could recount the horrors I have discovered about the multi billion dollar Debt Collectors Industry, but this is instead about the horrors of dealing with the legal system where justice is far less important than procedure and, a mans right to his day in Court is more myth than reality. Only a fool represents himself is an absolute truism, but without money one is given little choice. Legal Aid and pro bono lawyers do not have the time to deal with credit card cases. If you cannot afford a lawyer, you are on your own. I knew from the law suit preamble this could not be ignored. I had to answer this suit within 20 days and if I didnt I was dead meat. The vultures would quickly descend on me and pick my bones clean. Since I did not owe the debt I was confident the Court would read my Answer then dismiss this whole mess. I clearly denied in writing each of their contentions and filed it with the Court. Easy as pie, but everything from this point goes downhill.
I may toss legal words and documents around as if I know what I am talking about. I do not! The Business Law courses I took to earn my degree from U of H hardly prepared me for what has followed. Know ye, know ye, the legal system is entirely stacked against anyone defending themselves (called Pro Se). Do not look for help from the Judge (at least not mine) who surely considers me a fool for trying to represent myself and I suspect, resents that she must review my amateur attempts at playing lawyer.
Cleverly included in the law suit was a Request for Disclosures and Request for Admissions section, due 30 days after the Answer deadline. Now these are lists of documents you must furnish their lawyers and questions designed to get you to admit things even if untrue. Confident my first Answer would resolve this mistaken law suit I missed the second deadline. A few days later I was slapped with a Motion for Summary Judgment for missing the date. A trial date had not even been set. This scared the heck out me. A Summary Judgment is what the lawyers dream foryou lose and they win on a procedural technicality, even if it was a not legitimate law suit!
I mustered up what I thought was a good logical defense and filed a Motion to Deny the Summary Judgment. It was my Motion however that was denied and shortly thereafter I received a Court notice the case was being referred to Mediation. It was demanded I pay $400 for this service. Hmm! Here I am, a fool representing myself for lack of money, and the Judge wants me to pay $400 to a mediator. I was getting upset now and fired off a Defendants Objection to Mediation. It was rejected. To make a long story short in between there were Interrogatories, Notice of Service, Judgments and zillions of technical words and documents that I spent days and nights researching. Even when I thought I had made compelling pleas, they always seemed to be procedurally wrong.
For you to determine this case for yourself you must know some facts: (A) The full legal name of the original credit card company was absent in the suit. The assignor was just referred to as Providian. This could have been Providian Realty, Providian Insurance Co. or Providian Rip Off, Inc. which I suspect is the real case. (b) The account number was entirely wrong and was in fact an account number of another totally unrelated and long resolved Chase Manhattan Bank credit card (evidence fully documented). Only intentional fraud could have linked these two together. (c) I had no such debt and the only evidence they offered was a crudely typed few line Statement of Account given legitimacy by a claimed agent who swore that the account was accurate. This sworn affidavit was on the Houston attorneys, Hull & Associates P.C. heading paper, but suspiciously notarized by a California notary. There was no way to trace the agent, question him, or subpoena him as a witness. (d) The Plaintiff blatantly ignored my own discovery requests, the very crime they used as the basis for their Motion for Summary Judgment. (c) Finally, to add insult to injury, two more totally unrelated companies have sent me notices that they were assigned or purchased this same Providian debt and are attempting to collect. I filed a Motion to Dismiss based on these facts which, without explanation was denied and the case again referred to Mediation. Sadly, the Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment remains alive and is now scheduled for oral hearing on June 13. The Judge mysteriously ordered my trial would be a non-jury trial even though I had paid the $22 for the case to be heard by a jury. Further, she reset the trial date from June 23 to September 24. Why? Time is an uncertain commodity for this old man. Any hope of getting justice in the Court is fast fading.
In the last few weeks I have spent two days in the hospital from stress and my wife has asked for a divorce (no joking), all stemming from this ridiculous law suit. This continuing legal saga has diluted my faith and all confidence in the American legal system, but more than this it demonstrates that Lady Justice can be abusive, unfair and incredibly blind if one is poor. Procedures are needed to efficiently expedite matters through the legal system, but when used as an instrument to deny an indigent person his day in Court it makes a mockery of our laws. I can offer no advice to the victims of this broken system. All I can do is pledge I will never stop trying to right what is wrong in my case.
Fred
Rock Port, Texas
U.S.A.
