Order to Show Cause in Small Claims Judgement?

Question

My husband and I lost a small claims case by default. We were never served with the judgement and the amount that we owed the plaintiff. In Florida you have to either pay the judgement in full or turn over a fact information sheet with all your personal information to the plaintiff which includes your Social Security #, checking account #'s among other things. We knew the judgment was ruled aganist us and we were told we could print a copy of the judgement online. The court also said they would mail a copy of the judgment to us. We never received a copy and we could only view a partial copy of the judgement online. We never received a copy of either one. Today we got in the regular mail with no return address an "order to Show Cause" which states we have to give a reason why we did not return him the information sheet and why we shouln't be held in contempt for not doing it. We also now have to pay the plaintiff an additional $50 for this new hearing. Any tips on what to do?

The court claims that the judgment was mailed to us along with the fact information sheet. We never got it if they did! Any help would be great!

Actually I was at my mother's funeral the day of the pre-trial. I have filed a notice to vacate the judgement based on that. I wasn't trying to avoid the court I just thought my mom's death was a little more important, So please before you judge and say rude things, consider this!

I did notify the court of my mother's death. I was told to write a letter to the judge stating the emergency. I left the letter with the clerk's office. Who in turn gave it to the judge. The judge did not get the letter until after the pre trial conference and after the judgment had been entered. At that point I was told that my only option was to vacate the judgment.

I was also told by a legal counselor that it was unconstitutional to jail someone for a civil case. He said that the court would have to file a motion of contempt in order for us to go to jail. He said that in small claims case that rarely do that. It crosses the line between it being unconstitutional.

Answer 1

Wow what a mess. The best thing you can do now is talk to a lawyer. The court wants to know why you are not complying, first you don't even show up and now you're refusing to pay up. Get some legitimate legal counsel.

Answer 2

This is a civil action - no jail.
The most direct thing is to file a motion to vacate the default, and ask for a stay of judgment pending the outcome.
Defaults mustl be vacated if there was not proper service of the original summons (sounds like you got that but did not go due to funeral). Defaults generally will be vacated if there is "excusable neglect and a meretorious defense". The better your reason for missing the original trial date (funeral is good) and the better your defense to the underlying claim, the better your chance of having the default vacated. We are talking about the original trial date. Failure to recieve a copy of the judgment doesn't mean much of anything and is irrelevant.
Note however that small claims courts do not follow the law as strictly as regular courts, and there goal is to do "substantial justice". Therefore, if you do not actually have a good defense against the underlying claim, the court will not want to waste its time any further with the matter, and neither should you.

Answer 3

Now you go to a higher level court and appeal the judgment of the small claims on the grounds that you were never served with process.