4 ms·

> But lawsuits are a rich man's game. She couldn't justify trying to find an attorney or fighting a big, publicly traded company that would pursue her for $2,70

> But lawsuits are a rich man's game. She couldn't justify trying to find an attorney or fighting a big, publicly traded company that would pursue her for $2,700. This makes no sense and calls into question whether the article is being honest in its description of the debt in question. No superior court would waste its time over $2,700 - that's small claims territory, eg. no lawyers or fees for defendants. In general if you owe a debt to a company that gets acquired the debt doesn't just disappear. A bunch of fluff about the pandemic doesn't change that either. So my take is that the lede is disingenuous and the piece smells like agenda-pushing.

omegaworks 5y ago
Who's going to take the time out to explain that to a defendant? Certainly not the people trying to sue.
- henriquez 5y ago
  If you get served with a small claims lawsuit it is clearly labeled as such. And most small claims jurisdictions have no-cost mediation options to help people understand wtf is going on.
  - jermaustin1 5y ago
    The threat of a lawsuit is not a lawsuit, it is instead a demand letter that will state that if you do not pay, you will be sued. It will not say in sued in small claims, it just says you will be sued. So you would not get served to appear at a small claims court office, you will instead get a very scary letter on a law office's letter head, and you will pay the money.
  - anigbrowl 5y ago
    You know this, as do I. You are assuming everyone else knows it too, and knows enough to say 'eat my shorts, file a small claim or GTFO.' It's not the job of journalists to educate folk in this position, though a good journalist would point out such relevant facts to assist readers of the article who might be in a similar position nor or later. The primary job of the journalist is to report on the situation of their story subject, which might include a lack of financial or legal literacy.
kmeisthax 5y ago
The court doesn't waste it's time; the company does. Furthermore, these sorts of bulk lawsuits can be used as scare tactics to scare up settlements. Obviously, prosecuting a lawsuit over a $2,700 debt makes no financial sense if you were to carry the lawsuit to completion. But it also makes no sense to defend against. Just settle. The vast majority of people do this and thus you can get lots of money by suing people this way. Indeed, they basically outright stated this: "As of January, the company has decided to take patients to court only if they make at least twice the federal poverty level — or about $52,000 annually for a family of four." In other words, they target people who are most likely to settle and pay up. (Bonus points: this is intended to sound exonerating, until you realize that there is no such thing as a "federal poverty level". $52,000 is dirt poor in New York City or San Francisco.)
- gruez 5y ago
  >In other words, they target people who are most likely to settle and pay up. Seems like they can't win. If they sue everyone then they're called out for "suing the poor" or whatever. If they sue only people above an arbitrary cut-off then they're called out for "target[ing] people who are most likely to settle and pay up".
- deathanatos 5y ago
  > this is intended to sound exonerating, until you realize that there is no such thing as a "federal poverty level". https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/povert...
kirykl 5y ago
They file suit hoping to get a no show default judgement, and then file to garnish either wages or bank accounts. Most don’t contest so it’s only filing fees on the plaintiff
tssva 5y ago
In my state and I assume many others the plaintiff can choose whether to file in small claims or the normal general district court. The defendant can file to have a case moved from small claims to general district but not the other way around. Judges also do not have the ability to move a case from small claims to the normal general district process unless the parties agree. Companies therefore usually file using the normal general district process in other to achieve the very result documented in this article.
travoc 5y ago
I don’t think that’s correct. https://www.columbiadailyherald.com/news/20191121/medical-debt-lawsuits-are-8216flooding8217-tennessee-sending-sick-and-poor-to-court https://www.columbiadailyherald.com/news/20191121/medical-de...

omegaworks 5y ago

Who's going to take the time out to explain that to a defendant? Certainly not the people trying to sue.

henriquez 5y ago
If you get served with a small claims lawsuit it is clearly labeled as such. And most small claims jurisdictions have no-cost mediation options to help people understand wtf is going on.
- jermaustin1 5y ago
  The threat of a lawsuit is not a lawsuit, it is instead a demand letter that will state that if you do not pay, you will be sued. It will not say in sued in small claims, it just says you will be sued. So you would not get served to appear at a small claims court office, you will instead get a very scary letter on a law office's letter head, and you will pay the money.
- anigbrowl 5y ago
  You know this, as do I. You are assuming everyone else knows it too, and knows enough to say 'eat my shorts, file a small claim or GTFO.' It's not the job of journalists to educate folk in this position, though a good journalist would point out such relevant facts to assist readers of the article who might be in a similar position nor or later. The primary job of the journalist is to report on the situation of their story subject, which might include a lack of financial or legal literacy.

kmeisthax 5y ago

The court doesn't waste it's time; the company does. Furthermore, these sorts of bulk lawsuits can be used as scare tactics to scare up settlements. Obviously, prosecuting a lawsuit over a $2,700 debt makes no financial sense if you were to carry the lawsuit to completion. But it also makes no sense to defend against. Just settle. The vast majority of people do this and thus you can get lots of money by suing people this way. Indeed, they basically outright stated this: "As of January, the company has decided to take patients to court only if they make at least twice the federal poverty level — or about $52,000 annually for a family of four." In other words, they target people who are most likely to settle and pay up. (Bonus points: this is intended to sound exonerating, until you realize that there is no such thing as a "federal poverty level". $52,000 is dirt poor in New York City or San Francisco.)

gruez 5y ago
>In other words, they target people who are most likely to settle and pay up. Seems like they can't win. If they sue everyone then they're called out for "suing the poor" or whatever. If they sue only people above an arbitrary cut-off then they're called out for "target[ing] people who are most likely to settle and pay up".
deathanatos 5y ago
> this is intended to sound exonerating, until you realize that there is no such thing as a "federal poverty level". https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/povert...

kirykl 5y ago

They file suit hoping to get a no show default judgement, and then file to garnish either wages or bank accounts. Most don’t contest so it’s only filing fees on the plaintiff

tssva 5y ago

In my state and I assume many others the plaintiff can choose whether to file in small claims or the normal general district court. The defendant can file to have a case moved from small claims to general district but not the other way around. Judges also do not have the ability to move a case from small claims to the normal general district process unless the parties agree. Companies therefore usually file using the normal general district process in other to achieve the very result documented in this article.

travoc 5y ago

I don’t think that’s correct. https://www.columbiadailyherald.com/news/20191121/medical-debt-lawsuits-are-8216flooding8217-tennessee-sending-sick-and-poor-to-court https://www.columbiadailyherald.com/news/20191121/medical-de...