It was a nightmare last week leading up to the settlement conference scheduled for 7/7.
I would have NEVER agreed to a settlement conference had I known that the defendants would appear by telephone, see my post Settlement discussions with Midland Funding and MCM.
I had been out all day when I got the judge’s order granting Midland’s motion to appear telephonically despite my opposition and I ended up working on my motion to reschedule the hearing to August till 3:30 AM. In the alternative, I requested permission to appear telephonically. Why the hell should *** I *** have to incur the costs and waste MY time to have to travel to Phoenix? After all, I filed the lawsuit in Kingman and Midland had it removed to federal court.
Out of nowhere, Equifax had also filed a motion to appear telephonically. Apparently it was just served by the US Marshals Services on 6/26.
Fortunately, the hearing was rescheduled to 8/19 on the Wednesday before the 4th of July, but I have to drive to Phoenix to attend. Then Equifax wanted to move the hearing to 8/18 due to their attorney’s travel schedule. I offered to go on the 18th which requires an extra day car rental if Equifax pays for my extra costs, but they advised that they would not reimburse my additional expenses. So it’s 8/19 and both Equifax and Midland will appear by phone. Considering how sick and tired I am of those lying lawyers, settlement is extremely unlikely.
I have to say that it is extraordinary how the lawyers are deliberately offending me, lying to me and being at their absolute worst. Obviously, they get paid much more if we don’t settle and they managed to piss me off tremendously in those weeks leading up to the settlement conference. Great job!
There is the option to cancel the conference if we feel that it will not be productive and I’ll probably do that.
My next post will be about Midland’s refusal to provide ANY documents requested through discovery unless I sign a confidentiality order.