Last week Midland and the Bursey defendants filed their request for a MANDATORY settlement conference. Sadly, Judge Logan has not yet ruled on it or the discovery motion.
From our Joint Status Report in April 2019:
At the settlement conference in Phoenix I was the only party to show up – despite the Court’s order requiring all parties to attend. The magistrate judge allowed the Defendants to attend by telephone. I wasted so much time and money — NEVER AGAIN will I agree to a settlement conference.
On several occasions the Defendants insulted me with their ridiculously low settlement offers.
Money is nice, but changing laws and regulations for ALL consumers who are abused by debt buyers and their attorneys is much more important to me. I rather take nothing and attempt to make a difference for all by publicizing the Defendants’ vile litigation techniques. A pro se consumer litigant taking this case to the jury, after 8 years of litigation, prevailing in justice court and overturning two federal judges on appeal, should get the NATIONAL attention this case deserves and result in consumer law changes!
However, if the Defendants should wish to settle, I will accept $250,000 to me and $750,000 to a foundation to bring a community center and healthcare to my rural community. This offer expires on 5/15/19.
I have ZERO time for more BS. Every time we discussed settlement I ended up angry and frustrated and I wasted more time on BS.
Yesterday afternoon I spoke with MidIand attorney David Kaminski, Carson & Messer in California.
I returned his call and we talked for 45 minutes, mostly about a settlement conference.
How can we settle when we are SO far apart?
Attorney Kaminski told me about a case that was settled even though they also were very far apart. And I can see being worn out by multiple lawyers and a judge who all want the case settled. He assured me that all the defendants would show up, including a Midland executive.
One time I settled at a settlement conference and the judge did an outstanding job. Two of the defendants’ employees flew to Phoenix and they and their lawyer had to drive up to Flagstaff. I didn’t have to stay overnight, as it was about a three hour drive, and I had my dog in the truck all day, it was not in summer. I got permission to take him for a walk, as there was no lunch break because the judge didn’t believe in interruptions. It was such a small issue, only a few months of litigation, and compared to the issues with Midland and their attorneys, really nothing. It still took ALL DAY, must have been after 4 pm by the time we came to an agreement.
We didn’t settle at the 2014 settlement conference with Midland and Equifax and at several other settlement conferences I attended in Phoenix. I remember one at an attorneys’ office, a complete waste of time.
In justice court I’ve settled a few cases in mediation and some we didn’t settle. One time I settled for $2k after prevailing on appeal, just before the junk faxing mortgage banker went bankrupt around 2008 or so.
Piddly little stuff.
I tried to explain to attorney Kaminski that this isn’t just about money. I’m 61 years old, might have early onset Alzheimer’s and my life is pretty much over.
With so many SYSTEMIC abuses by Midland and the Bursey defendants, there’s a lot more than money on the table.
Midland charged interest for time PRIOR to purchasing the account.
That could add up to millions of dollars in ILLEGAL charges. Arizona state law allows creditors to charge 10%, absent contractual rates, but makes NO mention of charges PRIOR to ownership, as that is obviously ridiculous.
The collection attorneys couldn’t care less about the truth, court rules, orders and the law.
The Bursey attorneys submitted unauthenticated documents and a GENERIC card member agreement as the “written contract” required for the statute of limitations to be extend from three to six years.
They violated the justice court mediation order as attorney Monica Derrick attended the mediation hearing WITHOUT a Midland representative.
They LIED to me about emailing court filings, hoping I wouldn’t have time to respond on time.
These are systemic issues — not only in debt collection lawsuits.
Bullhead City attorney Keith Knochel submitted a FALSE affidavit with his client’s discovery responses to justice court. Judge Taylor IGNORED it. I filed a police report for perjury as required by the County Attorney’s office, but they chose NOT to prosecute!
Mohave County is infamous for corruption.
I called the justice court today about the mediation rules and plan on sending a letter to our two judges who apparently make and enforce the rules.
Should I agree to another settlement conference if they pay my expenses or somehow come up with a closer location than Phoenix?
When I explained to attorney Kaminski the issues I have with spending a night in Phoenix, at least four hours away, he tried to think of alternatives. He even mentioned Kingman. How would he get a judge to Kingman?
He hadn’t talked to attorney Buchinger regarding the Bursey defendants yet. They’d all have to show up, along with their insurance rep.
I really can’t see where that’s going …