State Specific Question About: ILLINOIS (IL)

The court needs to serve you, call the court and ask if any papers have been filed, at that time ask for an extension and then you can file for discovery.

Don't take advice from non-Illinois people. I'm sure IN[IN] means well, but Indiana law and procedures might not be the same as IL law.

In my two states (NV and CA), the COURT doesn't serve these papers. It is up to the Defendant to serve them properly according to state law. In NV and CA, that service can be made by hand or by mail -- the number of days the papers have to be served in advance of the hearing depends on the method of service.

It is unlikely that the court would dismiss the motion because of a service problem. It is more likely that the Court would set a new hearing date to give you time to respond - wasting more of your time, and delaying things even more.

If I were you, I would have sent someone to court two weeks ago to look at the file and either take notes or make a copy of the motion that you have not yet seem. I would most likely prefer to oppose the motion -- even if I had not been served -- instead of gettingdragged into a continuance/delay game.

Stay in control. Don't leave your fate up to total strangers and a flawed system. Be proactive. Head this off. Work something out.

Many LLs sit there and whine "It's not fair!" rather than taking back control.

Motion for what? Did they not show up in court? Will they argue they did not have proper notice? Can you prove they were served? (we do our own service for this exact reason)Is this to get another hearing to ask the judge to change his mind? Was this eviction and they are still in the home?

You are correct, in IN you do need proper notice,and that is what they may argue.

As I said call the court.

The court will bend over backwards for the tenant...maybe it is just to give them a fair trial...

A motion to set aside default: that means the tenants defaulted.

Which means that they will most likely claim that:

1. They were never served with some set of papers (In CA, it would be the summons and complaint, in NV it would be the Five Day Notice) and therefore did not answer/respond.

2. They filed their answer/response, but were never given notice of the hearing date.

3. They were given notice of the hearing date, but some emergency (or trickery by the LL) kept them from appearing at the hearing.

I've seen cases where someone did not show up for trial because he was in the hospital or emergency room or jail. I've seen tenants who claimed that they did not show up in court (or file their answer/response) because they had reached a settlement with the LL, and they feel betrayed when the LL goes to court and still has judgment entered despite the settlement.

In fact, many partial rent payment after service of the __ Day Notice To Pay Rent Or Quit are viewed by Tenants as "we reached a settlement with the LL, he accepted a patial payment, and we promised to try to pay him the rest of the rent as soon as we could."

So you need to see what the moving papers allege.