Take the judgement, whats the difference

I am frequently challenged by the problem of my clients being sued by the bank or a vendor, and their desire to enter an answer and challenge the motion for judgement. They somehow feel if they do  not answer they are reducing their position and harming themselves.

They desperately want to defend themselves and avoid the judgment. They are concerned by tits effect on their credit and somehow they believe that this will cause them harm in some way.

First, lets get down to the basics. Chances are very good that you borrowed the money, spent it and now cannot pay it back  as agreed. Probably the bank did nothing wrong. Chances are there is no offense nor a legal defense. So any answer would be either made up, irrelevant or frivolous and will be dismissed with a directed verdict for the plaintiff bank and all that would have happened would be additional expense and a waste of time with no practical advantage occurring.

So why do it?

In fact I frequently offer the bank an agreed judgement, explaining we are willing to cooperate fully, wanting to reduce unnecessary expenses and waste and would prefer to be working on the workout as opposed to a frivolous defense that postpone the inevitable and wastes money.

It is not a cop out but is a distinct strategy. The bank will get the judgement anyway, so what could possibly be the net gain of answering and defending.

Your lawyer may answer and counterclaim, I would cooperate and head towards workout, where cooperation on both sides pays off.

If you really want to file an answer and have your lawyer do it, that will also have the effect of shutting of any direct communication with the bank as they will then insist on lawyer to lawyer discussion as a suit has been filed and answered, That destroys any meaningful workout discussion between the primary parties, you and the bank. Definitely a bad idea. It also costs money and again with what possible gain in mind?

If you answer it yourself then you are really wasting your time and going to annoy the bank even further as it is a colossal waste of time money and effort.

Acknowledge you failed to pay, which is true, acknowledge you do not have the resources to comply with your note and get to the workout where the issue can best be resolved for both sides. Forget trying to dabble in the legal process. You have no case, more then likely…so why pretend and waste time and money. It defeats the real goal, a valuable workout.

It is not irresponsible, it is a productive strategy.