I hope this is a lesson, you never learn. In this case, Discover sued the widow to recover her deceased husband's credit card balance. Actually, there is some case law that supports the widow having liability for that debt (but that is another story). The widow filed a counter-claim under the Consumer Protection Act and the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. The record indicates that Discover's attorney requested and received an extension in which to file an answer. For reasons unknown, he did not file an answer within that time. Moreover, he did not file an answer in response to communications from wife's attorney or when the motion for default judgment was filed. Worse, he failed to attend the hearing on the default judgment.
Result: Default Judgment for Wife and award of damages of $375,000, a call to the malpractice carrier and termination of the attorney. On appeal, the court of appeals affirmed the award of default judgment but reversed the damages award stating that the court applied the wrong standard.
Moral of the Story: File an answer.
See Discover Card v. Joy A. Morgan
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