Sued by Hunt & Henriques? Here's Help.
You have about 30 days from the day you were served to file a written response, and that's usually enough time.
Miss that deadline and the plaintiff can take a default judgment against you. Respond, and whoever they're filing for has to prove the case, which is harder than it sounds. Here's how, and how I can help.
Hunt & Henriques is not the company you owed money to. It's a San Jose collection law firm, in business since the early 1980s, that files consumer collection lawsuits all over California for its clients. Those clients are the actual plaintiffs, and they range from original creditors like Citibank and Bank of America to debt buyers like LVNV Funding and Midland Funding.
So the first move is to read the caption on your summons and find out who Hunt & Henriques is filing for. That name decides what kind of case you have. If the plaintiff is a debt buyer, the load-bearing question is usually whether it can prove it owns your account at all. If it's the original creditor, the bank still has to prove its records and its numbers the legal way.
A firm filing at that volume is running a machine built for defaults, and a defended case is the thing the machine handles worst. I've written a more detailed page on what to do when Hunt & Henriques sues you, including the immediate first steps.
Use the thirty days
From the day you're served, you generally have thirty days to file a written response with the court. If nothing gets filed, the plaintiff can ask for an automatic judgment against you (called a default judgment), and with a judgment they can levy your bank account, meaning they take the money directly, garnish your wages if you have a job, or put a lien on your house. Responding is what makes everything above matter, because a defended case is where the proof gets tested.
Two reads that will help. Here's how to calculate your deadline, which is more particular than people expect. And the top five mistakes people make when they get sued is five minutes well spent before you decide anything.
Let it be my problem
If you'd rather hand this off, the consultation is free, it takes fifteen minutes, and you speak with me directly. No intake screener, no telemarketer. Although the outcome can't be guaranteed, you can offload the process, so you know that whatever can be done is being done while you go about the other things in your life. It's sort of like the alarm clock by your bed. Once it's set, your brain stops holding the time, because that's taken care of. Let me take care of this.