In a segment airing on August 21 on NPR Shots & appearing in KFF Health News, Tony Leys interviews NCLC senior attorney Berneta Haynes for a story about disputing bogus medical bills.
Debt collectors often seek summary judgment, which allows them to garnish wages or take other measures to seize money without going to the trouble of proving in a trial that they are entitled to payments. If the consumers being sued don’t show up to tell their side in court hearings, judges often grant summary judgment to the debt collectors.
However, if the facts of a case are in dispute — for example, because the defendant shows up and argues she owes for just one surgery, not two — the judge may deny summary judgment and send the case to trial. That forces the debt collector to choose: spend more time and money pursuing the debt or drop it.
“You know what? It pays to be stubborn in situations like this…I think a lot of folks just cave” after they’re sued.”
Berneta Haynes, a senior attorney for the National Consumer Law Center who reviewed Holmes’ bill for KFF Health News.
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