Where You Can Sue or Be Sued for Credit Debt – CreditRage Uncut 8

Experienced voices do tell us as you’ve hinted that federal claims belong in federal court, therefore it’s the ideal venue for consumer plaintiffs when possible. But I think the risk of selecting the “wrong” or least favorable venue is getting near equal between county/state and federal court, in particular for the pro se litigant.

In the “kids table” court you have a meat grinder process and judges who need to be painfully taught what the FDCPA and FCRA *really* say, oblivious to long established abusive practices of debt lawyers. Meanwhile in “big pants” federal, every claim of any merit gets the same tiresome quotes from Iqbal and Twombly, and the squishy procedures which protect corporate plaintiffs in the lower court are not to be found by rough-edged consumers in federal. Not to mention the current $400 “gate fee” can be prohibitive to a consumer who supposedly has no money for collectors.

I will say, however, federal court takes the lead for management. I’ve been through two levels of my county courts, and I find all of their clerks to be some combination of lazy, uninformed, and obstructionist — not to mention self-contradictory on the subject of “legal advice”. Their filing and process service procedures are obtuse, their paper forms are outdated, and their web pages fail to accurately describe a simple thing like the accepted forms of payment. Go to federal and you’re almost a house guest. The clerks are attentive, pleasant, and could easily be working in hospitality or the library system. They also know the difference between “information” and “advice” and will help a lost litigant right to their limits.

There is a potential compromise I’ve stumbled into. If the plan is to hurriedly settle pre-suit or pre-trial, venue may not matter. One might as well use what suits either one’s wallet or tolerance for broken process. My last case started in state and was removed to federal, mainly because I wasn’t in a hurry and I was stubborn about not selling out for cheap. In so doing, I cost-shifted the federal fee without trying. Federal removal was of course a scare tactic, like most of the defense pleadings to follow, which turned more desperate as months passed.