went out of town last year. had to go to hosp. getting sued by small claims court.?

Question

cannot make it back to that town to appear. does anyone know what that means for me?

out of work right now so i cant just send full balance

what happen was i got strep when i was away and 102 fever and the hosp charged me 575$ for a shot . got home month later got bill before i could pay work took me down to 25hrs then they closed for good. thats just the thing I do own a house and it takes every extra penny I have to keep it while I try to get a new job.

Answer 1

They will try to garnish your wage. But since you have none, they won't be able to take a penny. Don't worry about them

Just went to hospital myself..they wanted 100 a month..cant afford it..don't work..offered em $20.

Answer 2

Well read the paper work that you got served. I got surved and on the paper work if you do it in time you can send a letter to the courts asking either to reschedule or to do it via writing. Also one other thing to think about "you can't squeeze blood out of a turnup" which means if you don't have the money to pay it and you don't have a job and they take you to court they don't even have any way to garnish your wages. I know that it isn't really good for your credit but once you get a job then you can let them garnish your wages until you can pay it off. You could also call the hopital or collection agency and ask them if you can send like $5 per week till you get a job and explain how you don't have work and even if they win in court which they probably will they still will have no way of collecting because you don't have a job. Good luck :-)

Answer 3

You can try to contact someone in the Hospital Administration or the Manager for the Patient Accounts and work out payment arrangements. It is in their best interest not to have to go to court, but you must have ignored the bills a long time for it to reach that point. If they don't withdraw the lawsuit and you don't appear, they can (and probably will) receive a judgment against you. The long-term effects are garnishment, credit reporting, inability to get future employment in certain positions, etc. Try to fix this before it goes any further.

Answer 4

here's what it means

it means the hospital will take a default judgment against you, and this judgment will be pending in that state for a period of time

now, it is going to be extremely difficult for them to make it enforceable in your state but they could do this if your bill was really high and if you had some kind of property they could seize (dont worry, your car and house are generally exempt from seizure of this kind)

in any case, i think the worst possible scenario is that the judgment stays on your record and then somewhere down the line if you are trying to buy a house or something the mortgage company you go through will want that judgment removed (if they can even find out about it since its out of state)

they probably already reported you to the credit bureau

after 3 years, any attempt to collect sums due for medical services prescribe (this means a statute of limitations has run) and they can no longer attempt to collect that debt

however, their judgment could remain in effect for years even though they have no desire or way to collect it other than if you try to buy a house they will make it difficult for you to get funding

good luck, and pay the bill, its the right thing to do

Answer 5

You need to contact the court in that town that issued the summons. Communicate to them why you are unable to make your court date. If you don't show up the judge will rule in the plantiffs favor. Also contact the creditor one last time and explain your situation that you're out of work as well. And try and talk them into a payment plan of some sort. If they do that for you, make sure you make good on it and pay on time. Be honest and make sure its an amount you can afford. Don't just make something up that you think will please them. Contact a lawyer for a free consultation as well.

Answer 6

You can call the hospital or collection agency that is taking you to small claims and see if they will take payments.

...if you do nothing they will get a default judgment which means that your credit will go to H*ll and they can garnish your wages when you do get a job...I would at least try calling them.

They can take up to 1/2 your salary no matter what the hardship.

Answer 7

You have had a year to pay, why didn't you call the account receivable department and set up a payment schedule a long time ago if you couldn't pay in full? Now you need to pay that bill and hire a lawyer to represent you in court.

Answer 8

first call to see if you can make payment arrangements,then stick to them.they won't arrest you for failure to appear in small claims,but they will judge against you.if you used any kind of credit card or paid anything with a check i would switch bank accounts,because when the go to garnish your wages the may put a freeze on your account,it would be better to just make payment arrangements even if it's only twenty dollars a month,as long as you pay it they can't do anything else.

Answer 9

You should be able to send an attornery in your place. You could also start bankrupcy proceedings and that would stop the court actions against you. You can file the papers yourself. You might be able to find a pro-bono lawyer. Try going to Handelonthelaw.com

Answer 10

call the court that sent you the paperwork and tell them you want to delay the precedings for a few months. try to get the judge to dismiss the case while your at it as well.....if your in another part of the state or country, they probably arent going to come get you physicall, that would be too much of a burden on them, although you might get a default judgement in court and lose the case if you dont show.