How to ask plaintiff to dismiss lawsuit?

Was your business operating under the protection of an entity such as an LLC or a corporation? If so, the creditor would not be able to pursue you personaly if the card was solely in the name of the business.

However, two problems with this are that (1) often creditors require business people to sign in their personal capacities or to sign a personal guarantee, thus your own personal liability survives the failure of the business, (2) if you operated as a sole proprietor or d/b/a then you were personally liable for the business debts and again, the debts survive the failure of the business.

Under scenarios (1) and (2) above, asking for a dismissal is not going to get you anywhere because you have no grounds.

However, you may be able to work something out. Call up the attorneys, or, show up early the day of the summary judgment hearing and ask to sit down and negotiate. Spell out what is happening with respect to your lack of income and foreclosure. They SHOULD be willing to discuss a reasonable payment plan. If not, after the summary judgment is entered against you, the court will have a procedure for making sure you pay the full amount over time. So, better to attempt to negotiate now, before the hearing.

You said you do not want to go to court, but unless you can work out a payment schedule in advance, you must go to court.

Also, you said you do not want to file a bankruptcy so I won't tell you that a bankruptcy, if you quality, will wipe out all of your unsecured debts and give you a fresh start. I have seen people who initially rejected the very idea then reconsider and see that it was their best option.

Also, do not spend 401K or other ERISA savings on your unsecured debt because those plans are all exempt in a bankruptcy under virtually all circumstances.

You should have contacted an attorney when you received the complaint. Did you oppose the motion for summary judgment? If the time hasn't expired to file a response to the motion, you should consider the answer noted in the prior answer. If you have a valid legal defense, you may want to ask for an extension to file the response.

In any event, it is unlikely the credit card company will dismiss the action simply because you don't have the money to pay the debt. If you don't have a valid defense, you may want to negotiate a settlement before the hearing. Otherwise, if the court grants the company's motion for summary judgment, bankruptcy may be one of the few choices you have left.