Not going when you are sopeonaed?
 

A friend of mine just got sopeonead because some people want to sue her over something that happened a really long time ago.. (debt)


What could happen to her if she didn't go to it?

They would issue a bench warrant for her arrest.....

She would absolutely without a doubt get arrested?

A supeona is not a request for her to be there, it is a requirement that she show up.... so yes a bench warrant would be issued.

My day just got so much worse.

Lawyer here. Attendance is mandatory. Why doesn't she want to go?

If it happened "a really long time ago" the statute of limitations may have expired. I'm guessing it's a creditor's exam so that they can learn how to get some cash out of her.

She spent the money, so she shouldn't be irresponsible about it. She should be an adult and take care of her obligations. You should be telling her to go, not helping her avoid it.

I don't have any influence over what she does. If she goes, she thinks she'll lose some very important stuff.


It's a bad deal. I hope she goes.. and I hope she doesn't lose anything...

What do you mean by statute of limitations?

The police would absolutely without a doubt try to arrest her. This is not to say that they will. What are your friend's views on spending some quality time in Majorca or Cuba?

DISCLAIMER: Skipping the country is not a good idea. I am not recommending it. Just pointing out that it's really, really likely your friend will end up in court, one way or the other.

for criminal cases, there is a time limit after which you are immune to the punishments of the crime.

some criminals acts do not have statues of limitations though.

i have no idea on civil crimes.

She has debt to pay from when she took some loans when she had no money.. and she has no money now to pay them back.

Two possibilities here:

1- The judge issues a "body attatchment". This is a fancy way of saying "I want you guys to find her and attatch her person to this piece of paper and return both of them to me." Simply put, she gets locked up and sits in jail until they reschedule the trial.

2- Since your friend doesn't show up and present a defense, the judge believes what the other half says. If the other half says that your friend owes hundreds of thousands, and your friend isn't there to dispute it (and they can show that your friend has been "duly notified" of the court case and chose to ignore the summons) the judge can find that your friend owes whatever number they come up with....

Go to court. If she's wrong, she's going to lose, regardless if she shows up or not...

Just for the sake of overkill, she shouldn't play around with this.

Like Katyblu said, a subpoena is NOT a request. It is a court order. Think if someone was put under house arrest and they left their house when they shouldn't have. A subpoena is just as much of a court order - you go, or you're defying a command from the law.

Not only that, but like fhqwhgads said, if she doesn't go the judge will prety much just assume her guilt and will have NO sympathy towards her. However, even if she is guilty, by going she at least gets to share her side and at the very least has a chance to work out a satisfactory payment schedule.

Lesson of the day: When you take out a loan, start saving RIGHT AWAY to pay it back.

plus, if she goes and loses, she's out whatever she owes for her initial screw up. If she doesn't go and then she loses, she's out what she owes for the first screw up, and THEN she's in trouble for not obeying the subpoena, which generally means fines and/or jail time.

If it's not too late, your friend should go and see what the plaitiffs are asking. Most creditors don't want someone to go to jail because then the defendant stops making an income and can't pay off the debt. IANAL, but more than likely the plaitiffs will ask the judge for payment and your friend will say she can't pay and then the judge will ask her to provide proof she can't pay. Based on your friend's proof the judge will then require her to pay in whatever way possible. At that point, your friend can consider bankruptcy, but I don't have much experience in that arena (thankfully).

They will likely put out a warent for her, but they also probably won't actually send someone to get her. The next time she gets a parking ticket or something she gets draged in though.

It also means that she pretty much looses whatever the case she was being brought in for was. This can range from bad to very bad. She should go.

she should definitly go.

She should go. Creditors will want to work out a deal rather than push her into bankruptcy. If she pisses them off by ignoring the subpoena, the willingness to settle will vanish.

She won't lose her stuff (unless it's something like a default on a loan for a car, in which case they'll get the car sooner or later). If it's a credit card debt, or a doctor's bill, etc., they'll likely find out where she works/does her banking and begin garnishing her wages. she doesn't need a headache like that.

i'm not 100% sure how you mean this, but the only way she would possibly go to jail would be to skip going. civil suits are all about money, jail time is not a possiblility. so as long as she shows up, the worst outcome is filing for bankrupcy, which, depending on which type she qualifies for, means she could lose some stuff, or none.

I've got a lot of experiece dealing with Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases. In 99.99999% of those cases, the bankrupt person doesn't lose ANY of their property, aside from items that are collateral for loans (such as cars). Even so, most banks don't want to repossess cars and will allow new arrangements to be made to allow the debtor to keep the vehicle and continue making payments.

Any lawyer that lets the "average" person file for bankruptcy and lose her personal property is a moron, plain and simple. Even the least-skilled bankruptcy attorneys know how to use the exemptions provided by federal law to protect such property.

If she's afraid of bankruptcy because she doesn't want to lose stuff, she shouldn't be.

I'm not an advocate of bankruptcy: people should pay their bills, but sometimes things happen that get them over theirs heads (such as catastrophic illnesses, divorce, job losses). The idiots in our society that run up their credit card bills knowing they can't afford them are shockingly careless and irresponsible.