Defend Yourself in Court

You have to write an Answer to the lawsuit by the deadline. You start counting the deadline the day you get the complaint.

• You have 30 days to mail your Answer for Small Claims Court.
• You have 21 days to mail your Answer for Superior Court.

How to Answer

For Small Claims Court:

• Look at the list of “possible defenses” below to find out some of the ways that you can defend yourself against the complaint in the lawsuit.
• Use this form to write your Answer.

For Superior Court:

• Write an answer (I agree, I disagree, or I don’t know) beside each statement in the complaint.
  • If you remember and you don’t have records that prove whether or not the statements in the complaint are true, write “I don’t know.”
  • Include the address where you plan to get mail. If your mailing address changes during the case, you have to let the Court and Plaintiff know.

List of Possible Defenses

If any of these defenses are true or could be true in your case, write one or more of these in your Answer:

• The debt is older than 6 years old, so the statute of limitations means the case should be dismissed.
• The Plaintiff is not the original credit card company or lender, and I don’t think this Plaintiff has the right to sue me for this debt.
• The amount of money the Plaintiff says I owe is wrong.
• I am not responsible for this debt because:
  • I paid the debt.
  • A thief put false charges on my account, so I don’t owe that amount.
  • I am not the right person – this debt is not mine.
  • I discharged this debt in bankruptcy.
  • The debt is the debt of a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC).

If you are a co-debtor with a spouse, an ex, or another person, it is not a defense to say the other person was supposed to pay. It is a defense to show that the other person already paid it.

Counterclaims

You may have a counterclaim. A counterclaim is a lawsuit brought by the Defendant against a Plaintiff in an existing lawsuit. If you do have a counterclaim, you can include it on your Answer. Write “Counterclaim” on your Answer and write your counterclaim under it.

If you file an answer with a Counterclaim, you need to pay a filing fee or, if you income is very low, you can file a fee-waiver form.

Here are some examples of consumer counterclaims:

• Violation of the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
  • I claim the Plaintiff owes me the amount in the statute ($1,000) because the debt collector is not the original creditor.
  • I never got a letter from the Plaintiff before the Plaintiff started this lawsuit.
  • The Plaintiff made statements that are not true or are misleading about the character, amount or legal status of the debt (including that my non-debtor relative is responsible for the debt.)
  • The Plaintiff communicated in a harassing way by (list any or all of these things that the Plaintiff did):
    • Calling my home too early or too late
    • Told others (who did not need to know) about the debt
    • Called my work place and my work place doesn’t allow such calls
    • Continued to call after I sent a no-call letter
    • Called often to annoy me
    • Threatened me with harm or jail
• Violation of Vermont’s Consumer Protection Act. The Plaintiff is a debt collector and:
  • The Plaintiff made statements that are not true or are misleading about the character, amount or legal status of the debt (including that my non-debtor relative is responsible for the debt.)
  • The Plaintiff communicated in a harassing way by (list any or all of these things that the Plaintiff did):
    • Calling my home too early or too late
    • Told others (who did not need to know) about the debt
    • Called my work place and my work place doesn’t allow such calls
    • Continued to call after I sent a no-call letter
    • Called often to annoy me
    • Threatened me with harm or jail
• My money damages are $________ because __________.

If you get public benefits, your income is exempt from collection. This means that your public benefit money cannot be used to pay this debt. (To learn more, go to our Protecting Your Income page.)

If your income is exempt, you need to write to the Plaintiff and send documents to show that you get public benefit money. If the Plaintiff has documents showing that your income is exempt from collection, the Plaintiff may decide to drop the court case.

Mail the Answer by the deadline to the Court. This is called “filing.” Send a copy to the Plaintiff. Send a copy to the opposing parties.

You start counting the deadline the day you get the complaint. The deadline for Small Claims Court is 30 days. The deadline for Superior Court is 21 days.

Pay attention to all papers from the Plaintiff and the Court. Even if the paper doesn’t tell you a date to come to court, you may need to write a response.

Many people think they can wait and explain everything in court. This is a mistake. Sometimes you have to answer in writing first.

Here are three examples of things you might get in the mail that you have to respond to in writing:

1. The Plaintiff may request (ask) to let a witness testify by phone. You don’t have to agree with Plaintiff’s request. You may say no, for example, if the testimony involves talking about papers, and the testimony will be confusing to understand over the phone.
2. If the Plaintiff sends a “Request to Admit,” they are asking you to admit (agree) that certain statements are true. Make sure you send a written answer within 30 days. You should write the word “deny” by any statement that you don’t know to be true. Don’t lose your case because you didn’t respond or because you think that the Plaintiff’s statements may be true.
3. In Superior Court, the Plaintiff can send you written questions (called interrogatories) to answer.

You can’t ignore these questions. You must answer in 30 days, or write to ask for more time to answer. If the Plaintiff asks you for documents and you don’t answer, the Plaintiff can ask the Court not to consider any of your documents at trial.

You don’t have to go to other people to get documents for the Plaintiff. You are only responsible for giving any documents they ask for that you already have.

You Can Send Questions for the Plaintiff to Answer

The Plaintiff has to follow the same rules. You can send the Plaintiff written questions (called interrogatories) for the Plaintiff to answer. Here are some questions you may want to send to the Plaintiff. You can copy and paste them into your letter.

FIRST SET OF INTERROGATORIES

1. Describe and list the dates and amounts of purchases and cash advances made on the account claimed.
2. Describe and list the dates and amounts of payments made on the account claimed.
3. Describe and list the dates and amount of account fees, interest, late charges, over limit charges that add to the balance alleged on the account claimed.
4. Please state the interest rate, at the time the last payment was made, on the account claimed.
5. Please describe the terms of the contract applicable to the account claimed,  including the date the agreement was made, the fees and charges applicable to use of the account, the interest rates applicable to the account, and the payment terms.
6. Please state the date that Plaintiff purchased the account claimed, and who Plaintiff purchased it from.
7. Please describe the terms and conditions of the purchase of the account claimed.
8. Please state the purchase price of the account claimed from the Seller of the account claimed.
9. Please list all the information and documents conveyed to Plaintiff from the Seller of the account claimed.
10. Please list all the information and documents conveyed and the dates conveyed, to the Plaintiff subsequent to the date of purchase of the account claimed.

REQUESTS TO PRODUCE

1. Please produce copies of the contract sued upon.
2. Please produce copies of statements of account.
3. Please produce any documents you relied on in any of your answers to interrogatories.
4. Please produce any documents you intend to produce at trial.

The Plaintiff can’t ignore your questions. The Plaintiff must answer in 30 days or ask you in writing for more time. If the Plaintiff never answers, at trial you can ask the Court to not consider any of Plaintiff’s documents, because you asked for them but Plaintiff refused to share them ahead of time.

Go to Court on the hearing date.

You may disagree (object) if you think that the Court shouldn’t consider Plaintiff’s documents. Here are some reasons you might object:

• The dates don’t make sense. For example, does the date of the last payment on the original account make sense with the date the Plaintiff claims to have bought the debt?
• The names of the companies (the original creditor, debt collector, and plaintiff) don’t make sense. Have you ever heard of them before? Does the information all match? (For example, the Plaintiff’s paper stating that the Plaintiff has bought the debt might name a different store or original creditor than the one that is named on credit card statements.)

Bring evidence or documents that you have to prove any of your defenses and counterclaims. Your testimony is also evidence. Plan out how to explain your defense and counterclaim. Telling facts in the date order they happened usually works best.

Video: Going to Court in Vermont: What to Expect

After the trial, the Court will decide for you (the Defendant) or against you.

Judgment for You

The Court will make a judgment for you if it decides that:

• the Plaintiff has not proved its case or
• you have proved a defense or
• you have proved a counterclaim 

Keep a copy of the Court’s decision for your records. You can use it to change your credit report or to defend yourself if a debt collector tries to sue you on this debt again.

Judgment against You

The Court will make a judgment against you if it decides that the Plaintiff has proved its case.

Even if the judgment is against you, you may not have to pay if:

• your income is exempt from collection
• you decide to get the judgment and all of your other debt discharged in bankruptcy
• the judgment expires. It cannot be collected after eight years, unless the Plaintiff files a new lawsuit to renew it.

If the Court decides against you, the Plaintiff will then be called a Judgment Creditor. If your income is not exempt from collection, the Judgment Creditor may do some of these things to try to get paid on the judgment:

• put a lien on eligible real property
• get a court order for a hold or freeze on your bank account
• get a court order to take some of your pay

You may have defenses to these actions.

Learn more about your rights.