Forms you will need to file your Answer:
Filing an Answer
If you receive public benefits, or if you cannot afford to pay filing fees, you will also need these form:
An overview of the documents needed to file an answer discussed in more detail below:
Answer-General Denial- PLD-050
Proof of Service of the Answer- POS-030
Pay a filing fee or submit a fee waiver request.
Preparing the documents
Fill out the Answer (PLD-050) according to the Actions Steps above. See videos for more help.
Ask a friend to help you with the Proof of Service. See this page for more help and videos.
Prepare your filing fee (check the court to see the accepted payment methods). If you receive public benefits, or if you cannot afford to pay the filing fee, prepare the fee waiver request as instructed here.
Make copies of your paperwork as follows.
(a) Answer: Two (2) copies, one (1) original= Three (3) sets total.
(b) Proof of Service: Two (2) copies, one (1) original= Three (3) sets total.
(c) Fee Waiver: One (1) copy of FW-001, one (1) original= Two (2) sets total.
(If in SF, One (1) copy of FW-003, one (1) original= Two (2) sets total
Organizing the Documents
(Stack 1) The stack of originals for the Court: (Documents: Answer, POS, FW-001, FW-003.) Do NOT staple any of these documents. Instead, use a paper clip to clip all the pages of FW-001 and FW-003 separately. These documents will get filed with the court (blue ink original forms).
(Stack 2) One stack of copies for your records (take with you to court): (Documents: Answer, POS, FW-001, FW-003). These are your documents. Staple the pages of each document so that you can tell that these are copies and not originals. You will bring this with you to court when you file.
(Stack 3) One stack of copies for friend to serve on Plaintiff through its Attorney: (Documents: Answer and POS ONLY). These documents should be put in an envelop and the person who signed the POS needs to mail it using regular, postage paid mail on the date they said they mailed it on the POS to the person named and addressed in #5 of the POS. DO NOT SEND YOUR FW-001 and FW-003 DOCUMENTS TO THE PLAINTIFF.
Filing and Serving the Documents
You should file Stack 1 at the court (bring Stack 2 with you)
Take Stack 1 and Stack 2 with you to the court. Be sure to check the Court's filing clerk hours. File stack 1 with the clerk.
If the fee waiver is accepted, you will not have to pay filing fees in this case. If the court does not accept it automatically, they will provide you with a hearing date to go over your fee waiver request. If your request is rejected after the hearing, you will have to pay the filing fee to the court in order for your answer to be accepted and prevent the Plaintiff from obtaining a default judgement against you.
Stack 2: During the time the clerk is entering your information, he/she/they may hand you a large stamp. Stamp the top right corner of the front page of each of your copies of the documents (4 stamps). Ask the clerk for help if you are not sure.
Your friend to mail Stack 3 for you
A copy of the Answer and the POS only. These documents should be put in an envelop.
The person who signed the POS needs to mail it using regular, postage paid mail on the date they said they mailed it on the POS to the person named and addressed in #5 of the POS.
DO NOT SEND YOUR FW-001 and FW-003 DOCUMENTS TO THE PLAINTIFF. This is your private, personal financial information for the court to assess your inability to pay filing fees.
Very Important General Information
This form is your "first appearance" in the case. It tells the court and the Plaintiff that you are submitting to the jurisdiction and the rules of court. If you do not file this document in time, the Plaintiff can get a default judgment against you, which if granted, will allow the Plaintiff to enforce the full amount they are suing you for with the power of the court behind it. A judgment is what allows a party to use the sheriff to garnish wages and/or levy bank accounts. Filing the Answer before a Plaintiff's request for entry of judgment will prevent the Plaintiff from obtaining a default judgment. In order for your Answer to be accepted, the Answer document must be filed along with your first appearance fee or a fee waiver. See below for more. This form is your "first appearance" in the case. It tells the court and the Plaintiff that you are submitting to the jurisdiction and the rules of court. If you do not file this document in time, the Plaintiff can get a default judgment against you, which if granted, will allow the Plaintiff to enforce the full amount they are suing you for with the power of the court behind it. A judgment is what allows a party to use the sheriff to garnish wages and/or levy bank accounts. Filing the Answer before a Plaintiff's request for entry of judgment will prevent the Plaintiff from obtaining a default judgment. In order for your Answer to be accepted, the Answer document must be filed along with your first appearance fee or a fee waiver.
About the Deadline:
If you are not sure how you were served with the complaint, look at the proof of service of summons in your case. This can be found online in San Francisco by doing a case query and searching by your case number. Complete the filing and service of your answer before 30 days from the time you were served if you were served personally, or 40 days if you were served by mail and someone else in the household (substitute service), based on the information in the proof of service of summons and complaint.
Next Steps:
Once your answer is accepted by the court, you will stop the Plaintiff from being able to take a default judgment against you. It may be some time before you hear something else in this case. The Plaintiff may send you a packet of questions or the court may send you a "Notice of Case Management Conference Hearing". All documents are time sensitive. Please check out this resource page to find out where you can get legal services.
What if I miss the deadline or the court rejects my Answer?
Missing the deadline to file your answer removes you from the safe harbor of responding to the lawsuit before the Plaintiff can get a default judgement against you. Before the deadLine expires, the Plaintiff cannot get a judgement against you. If you miss the deadline, you are racing against the Plaintiff to file a response before the Plaintiff can get to the court first and cut off your ability to respond to the lawsuit—essentially causing you to lose immediately. A judgement is the court’s final determination of the case.
The court may reject your answer if 1) you are denied the fee waiver request and fail to pay, or 2) you miss your filing deadline and the Plaintiff files a document called “Request for Entry of Default Judgement”. In the first scenario, you will need to file your answer again with the fee or a modified fee waiver if your circumstances have changed. If the second option is true, in limited scenarios, you may be able to overturn the request to enter default, but the motion to do so is very tedious— legal aid may not have enough time to help you, and a private attorney will likely charge for this service. Thus, it’s very important to file your documents on time before deadlines.
Resources:
Podcast: Help I’ve been sued by a third party debt collector.
YOUR ACTION STEPS— ANSWER, PLD-050
Check that you have provided the correct information for your name, address, phone number, case number.
Date, and sign the document at the bottom. To be clear, the Plaintiff is the party suing you, and you are the Defendant.
You will need to make 2 copies (You’ll end up with 1 original, and 2 copies, 3 documents total)
Directions
ABOUT THE ANSWER
An overview of the steps needed to file an answer discussed in more detail below:
File your Answer, Proof of Service, and Filing fee or Fee Waiver with the Court.
Get a copy of the documents with the court’s time stamp to keep for your records.
Serve the Plaintiff by asking another person over the age of 18 and not in the lawsuit to put the Answer and Proof of service only in the mail to the Plaintiff’s lawyer.