There are many legal words and phrases that sound straightforward, but you may not know exactly what they mean. Familiarizing yourself with these phrases will be empowering no matter what, but they’re especially useful if you’ve been thinking about filing a legal claim.
Legal Pleadings Simplified
You’ve probably heard of a “plea” in a courtroom context, and it has a fairly similar meaning to the everyday use of the word. But more specifically, legal pleading is a phase of a lawsuit; it’s the phase where the parties state what their claims are.
For example, when you see someone plead “not guilty” in a courtroom, that person is submitting their legal plea. Legal pleading demonstrates whether that person feels they are for the crime they’re being accused of.
Legal Pleadings and the FDCPA
How is this pertinent to your FDCPA case? The legal pleading phase will definitely be a part of your case if you’re planning to file the claim. That’ll be the part of the case where the third-party collection agency will state whether it is guilty or not. If their legal plea is “guilty,” you won’t have to go through a full trial. However, if the company does choose to plead not guilty, then you’ll have to argue your case.
Arguing your case in the face of a third-party collection agency’s “not guilty” plea will be easier if you allow an FDCPA attorney to spearhead this effort. Third-party collection agencies could have a legal team on their side, so having your own attorney will at least somewhat level the playing field.