As someone who represented themselves in a similar sort of case, and successfully repulsed the effort to collect, I have sympathy - the civil courts system give

As someone who represented themselves in a similar sort of case, and successfully repulsed the effort to collect, I have sympathy - the civil courts system gives a slight bias to people who have lawyers - like in my case a default judgment was granted before I could even get my filing in (before the deadline), and then was withdrawn when I submitted my filing. Writing a brief is hard if you've never done it before, and there is no easy guide to figure out what you need to do to make the system work for you. I represented myself at first because I couldnt afford a lawyer - then the case just sat in an existing but no filings state - then later because the plaintiff scheduled a court date without notifying me, and I only had a one day notice to drag myself into court.