There are several legal defenses that may be available to you.  Listed below are the most common ones.  You may have other defenses, too.  To determine if these or other defenses may apply to you, you may want to get help now.

Common defenses include:

• You do not owe the debt that you were sued for or you do not owe the full amount 
• You have already reached a payment plan with the creditor
• You did not receive important court documents or did not receive them correctly (Improper Service)
• The debt is too old to collect 
• It is not your debt, but a spouse’s or other family member’s debt
• You discharged the debt in bankruptcy
• You were sued in the wrong court
• You are a victim of identity theft and never incurred the debt
• Other Defenses

You do not owe the debt that you were sued for or you do not owe the full amount 

If you do not owe the debt, you will need to gather the documents to prove this. Documents that may help you include proof that you made payments or that the debt is not in your name. You may need to get some documents from a bank or other institution as proof. You should gather these documents to bring to court.

Please note that creditors will often sell debts to third-party debt buyers and the debt buyer, who may very well be a company whose name you do not recognize, is filing the collection lawsuit. If that is the case, the debt buyer needs to show that it legally owns the right to collect the debt.

Please click here for information about presenting your documents in a remote hearing: https://mdcourts.gov/sites/default/files/import/eservices/pdf/remotehearingsguidelines.pdf   You may also use witnesses or witness statements (called affidavits) to aid your claim.  For more information about calling witnesses or preparing your witness statements please see here.

You have already reached a payment plan with the creditor suing you

If you have already reached an agreement with the creditor who is suing you and have a plan to pay then you should take two steps.  First, you should make sure that you have a written agreement for the payment plan.  Second, you should contact your creditor who is suing you and confirm your payment plan agreement. If you can’t find your copy of that agreement in writing, ask them to send you one.

Even if they confirm the agreement, you may still need to appear in court!  Unless you receive a document saying that the case was dismissed, you should appear and present the agreement to the court.  If you do not appear, the Court may not know about your agreement. If that happens, the Court may rule against you, and the creditor may take your wages or your property.

Improper Service 

There are rules for how you should be “served” – meaning, how you should receive your “Writ of Summons” and “Complaint”. You should have received these documents:

• In-person (you or a person at your residence who is at least 18 years old), or
• By certified mail that is “restricted delivery”

If you received these documents in a different way, or did not receive the documents at all, then you may not have been properly served.  See here for more details and what your options are if you have not been properly “served.”

Old Debt

Your debt may be too old to collect. In Maryland, this is generally true if you have been sued more than three years after the last time you missed a payment. For example, if the last payment you made was in November 2016 and you were supposed to make a payment in December 2016 but you did not, you should be sued by December 2019.  

Some lawsuits may be brought four or more years after the last missed payment, you should check with an attorney.

You should collect records of the payments you made. These records may be things like credit card statements or payment receipts. You should gather any documentation that you can find to prove that the debt is not within the time limit.

If the creditor does not file suit within the time limit, then the court generally will not order you to pay the debt.

One important thing that makes Maryland different from other places you may have lived: even if you have admitted to owing the debt since your last payment, a creditor may still not collect if the debt is more than three years old. 

For more details about the time limits, see https://www.peoples-law.org/time-limits-debts.

Spouse’s Debt

You are generally not responsible for the debt of your spouse or another family member unless you agreed to be responsible for repayment by co-signing. Check the paperwork – if your name is on the account, or if you signed the agreement, you may be responsible for paying the debt even if you didn’t spend the money or buy the goods. 

You should NOT be responsible for the debt of your spouse or family member if:

• You did not sign an agreement holding you personally responsible for that particular debt
• The debt arose prior to your marriage.
• The debt arose after your divorce.
• You can show that the debt is fraudulent.

This includes medical expenses, unless your child was a minor and you are legally responsible for him or her. For more information about spouse’s debt or for questions about a spouse’s debt after they die see this page: https://www.peoples-law.org/spouses-debts

You have declared Bankruptcy 

If you have an ongoing bankruptcy filing, the case may be subject to an “automatic stay”, meaning that it cannot proceed. You should notify the Court and the creditor suing you that you have filed for bankruptcy and gather documentation and proof of the proceeding. They may try to have the stay lifted so that the case can proceed, may try to collect the debt through the bankruptcy process or may write off the debt.

If your bankruptcy has concluded, the debt may have been discharged (that is canceled). If that is the case, then any effort to collect it would violate the discharge order. For more information on declaring bankruptcy click here or for legal advice contact MVLS for more information. https://mvlslaw.org/get-legal-help/ or by calling (410) 547-6357 between 9 and noon Monday through Thursday.

You were sued in the wrong location

If you are being sued in a County (including Baltimore City) other than where you live or where you signed the contract with the creditor, you may have a “venue” defense. That means that the lawsuit was filed in the wrong place.  In that case, the lawsuit may be dismissed or transferred to the correct location.

You are a victim of identity theft and do not owe the debt

If you don’t owe the debt and believe someone else used your identity to rack up debt in your name, you should gather any documents that you have proving this mistake. For example, if you have been a victim of identity theft, you may obtain a police report detailing the identity theft or other documentation that proves you were a victim. For more help with identity theft issues see the Attorney General website: https://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/Pages/IdentityTheft/default.aspx

Other Defenses

There are other defenses that pertain to automobile loans and other circumstances. Get help now.

OTHER ARGUMENTS YOU MAY MAKE:

• If the creditor who sued you owes you money, you may generally file a “counterclaim” (in other words, you can file suit against the person or company suing you). Counterclaims must be filed within 25 days of receiving the Writ of Summons and Complaint. If you miss the deadline, you can file papers and ask the court for permission to file a late counterclaim.  
• If the creditor is suing several people, including you, you may sue another defendant in a “cross-claim” if you believe the other defendant owes you for the money the plaintiff claims you owe.   
• If you believe someone who has not been sued owes you money that should be used to pay the creditor who is suing you, you may file a “third-party claim” against that person at least 10 days before trial.  
• If your counterclaim, cross-claim, or third party claim is for more than $5,000, the entire case may be moved from Small Claims Court and more formal rules of evidence and procedure will apply.
• If you believe one of these situations may apply to you get help now.