Can a third-party lawyer learn of a court filing before I have learned of it?
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Can a third-party lawyer learn of a court filing before I have learned of it?
I received 3″advertisement” letters yesterday from 3 different lawyers regarding a filing for debt collection at the court house. I have heard nothing regarding this, however these lawyers are advising me to contact them ahead of time. They are claiming they have information about a claim from a collection agency. Is this legit? Can an unknown lawyer learn of this filing prior to my even becoming aware of this alleged filing?
Asked on February 9, 2011 under Bankruptcy Law, Georgia
Answers:
M.T.G., Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
You as the defendant in the lawsuit will have to be "served" with the pleading. It sounds as if in your state that the court requires that the pleading be filed by the plaintiff - the creditor - in the courthouse, an index number be obtained and then that the defendant is served. What happens is that there are services that can be used to look and see the cases filed in a give day. Then the services can give that information to the attorney to contact you. So yes, they can know first. But the answer to if they are legit, well, that is not something I can give any guidance about. If you think that you want to use one of these lawyers google their name and see what has to be said about them. Good luck.
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