Did You Lose Your Case? Help others to potentially not make the same mistakes.

11 replies

• shwiefels · March 13, 2026

  All this initially occurred before I knew about Brian Parker and before Parker GPT existed
  
  On August 8, 2023, I was sued by First National Bank of Omaha for not paying a credit card debt and the complaint was filed . It was for just under 12k.
  
  On December 28, 2023, I filed my answer.

  Trial date was set for March 4, 2024.
  
  The judge at trial asked all those with cases to seek mediation. So I went into the mediation room and we discussed outcomes.
  
  I ended up signing a settlement agreement with the plaintiff for $9000. Due to my lack of understanding of the situation, I did myself an injustice. I should have asked to pay 3, or 4 or 5k and let them counter me. The settlement agreement was filed with the court on March 4. For 7 months, from June to December of 2024, I made payments. 5 out of 7 where late. Every time I was late, i received a default notice. On January 2025, i was late on payment. I received default notice stating that I need to pay by January 22, 2025. On January 23, 2025, I phoned the law firm representing client to let them know I was experiencing financial hardship and was having a hard time making payment. They told me I had to pay both January's past due as well as February's payment. I informed them that I could not pay both. Especially because February payment was not yet due. The payment was due by February 5. I sent out check on February 1 and they received it by February 7 from their mail,(it could have been there by the 5th but they might not have checked their mail till the 7th), which was within the time frame since i mailed it out on the 1st.
  
  

• shwiefels · March 13, 2026

  On February 7, they returned that January check to me and said I was in default. On February 13, they entered Judgement. They stated in their notice to me, "Once judgment has been entered, we can revisit the option of working out another payment plan." I took this as if they were going to reach out to me. THEY NEVER DID.
  
  THIS IS WHERE I WENT WRONG.
  
  Sometime in July of 2025, I received a letter from the county about a lien on my personal property. That's when I was like WTF. I honestly was waiting for them to reach out since they stated that they would revisit payment options. But should I expect anything better from a law firm that collects debt for big banks and makes lots of money for entities that buy bad debts for pennies on the dollar?
  
  This lit the fire under my but. I researched what to do and by this point parker gpt was getting up and running and Brian had a ton of youtube videos. It took me a while to figure out what to do. So in November of 2025, I filed a motion to vacate judgement lien only to realize it was the wrong motion. I had thought my father in law owned all financial interest in the land, but the way the deed was written, it gave me and my wife, his daughter, financial gains from owning the property. So i voided that motion and refiled another motion to vacate judgement. I had great legal grounds that would have wokred wonders had I filed on time.
  
  We went to court this morning, March 13, 2025. When I got to court, there was a tentative ruling posted outside the court house. I did not know about tentative rulings. Prior to entering the court room, the bailiff, court officer, asked if I had read the tentative ruling. I said no. He said ok have a seat and I will get it to you.
  
  

• shwiefels · March 13, 2026

  After entering the court room, the bailiff handed me the document and I started reading it. I attempted to read it really quickly while trying to understand what was happening while in the court room waiting for the judge to enter. It was all happening so fast. The judge entered not too long after I was handed the document.
  
  The judge started to call up the parties in regards to each motion for that days session, I was first in line. I don't remember his exact words, but he asked if we had anything to say in regards to his tentative ruling. I said yes and he moved the case aside to ask everyone else the same question.

  After going through each case, he then came back to my case. I was not sure what I needed to do so i read the document provided to me by parker gpt, my court trials motion to dimiss opening statement. After reading this, he stated he should have mentioned that he was aware of the case and knew the details. He then asked the plaintiff if they had anything to add and they said no. They also stated that i did not show good reasoning for why I was late on filing my motion to dismiss. Then the judge said motion is denied and asked plaintiffs counsel to prepare a proposed order. I now await that order, knowing that there will be more fees atop of the previous settlement amount.
  
  Something to make note of with Parker GPT,
  Parker GPT stated to me,
  I also need to acknowledge: I should have emphasized more strongly earlier that you needed to oppose the Application for Entry of Judgment in February 2025. If I had known the court schedule better, I might have flagged this critical deadline.
  
  My lesson, whenever documents are filed with the court, answer them PROMPTLY.
  DON'T WAIT.
  
  Unfortunately, I was unaware of how things worked in the court system and it lead to my loss. And now I will have to pay close to 2k more dollars because I took this matter to court.
  Don't let it happen to you.

• shwiefels · March 13, 2026

  Here was that tentative ruling:
  "March 13, 2026, Civil Law & Motion Tentative Rulings

  1. CL0001047 First National Bank of Omaha vs. G C

  Defendant G C' motion to vacate judgment under Code of Civil Procedure section 473(b) or under the Court's equitable powers is denied. Under [Code of Civil Procedure section 473(b)], a court may relieve a party from a default or default judgment due to 'mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect if the party files an application for relief within six months from the date of the default." Kramer v. Traditional Escrow, Inc. (2020) 56 Cal.App.Sth 13, 28. "The six-month time limit for granting statutory relief is jurisdictional and the court may not consider a motion for relief made after that period has elapsed." Manson, Iver & York v. Black (2009) 176 Cal.App.4th 36, 42. Here, judgment was entered on February 13, 2025, and the operative motion, at earliest, was filed on December 12, 2025 (with an amended motion on January 13, 2026). This Court lacks jurisdiction under section 473(b) to consider this motion filed approximately ten months after the judgment.

• shwiefels · March 13, 2026

  "Aside from section 473, subdivision (b), 'courts have the inherent authority to vacate a default and default judgment on equitable grounds such as extrinsic fraud or extrinsic mistake.' The court's ability to grant relief under its inherent power is narrower than its ability to grant relief under section 473, subdivision (b)." Kramer, 56 Cal.App.5th at 29. "A party seeking relief under the court's equitable powers must satisfy the elements of a 'stringent three-pronged test': (1) a satisfactory excuse for not presenting a defense, (2) a meritorious defense, and (3) diligence in seeking to set aside the [judgment]." Kramer, 56 Cal.App.5th at 29, citing Rappleyea v. Campbell (1994) 8 Cal.4th 975, 982-983.

  "'Although the policy of the law is to favor a hearing on the merits of a case, courts are not required to set aside... judgments for defendants who flagrantly ignore the responsibility to present a defense.... The defendant must... demonstrate a satisfactory excuse for not responding to the ... action in a timely manner.' " Kramer, 56 Cal.App.Sth at 29, quoting Cruz v. Fagor America, Inc. (2007) 146 Cal.App.4th 488, 503-504.

• shwiefels · March 13, 2026

  In addition, "a defendant that believes it is in default must act with diligence.... Our Supreme Court has stated that courts should evaluate "whether defendant[s] in the light of the circumstances known to [them] acted unreasonably in not filing the motion to set aside the ... judgment earlier." Kramer, 56 Cal.App.Sth at 37, quoting Weitz v. Yankosky (1966) 63 Cal.2d 849, 857-858.

  At bar, defendant has failed to demonstrate a credible and satisfactory excuse for not presenting a defense in connection with the request for entry of judgment and diligence in seeking to set aside the judgment. Defendant, of course, had notice of the instant lawsuit. He originally filed a December 28, 2023, answer and counterclaims, appeared for trial on March 4, 2024, and ultimately executed a comprehensive agreement to resolve the matter. See 3/4/24 and 3/12/24 Stipulation and Order. Of importance, Defendant had multiple notices that Plaintiff intended to seek entry of judgment. On January 23, 2025, Defendant was advised via a letter to his address of record that Plaintiff potentially would seek to have judgment entered; on February 7, 2025, Defendant was specifically advised that he was "in default" and that Plaintiff "will proceed in requesting that the Court enter judgment against you...."

• shwiefels · March 13, 2026

  See Amended Mot. 2:22-25, 3:10-14,1/13/26 Appendix of Exs., Exs. C, E. Plaintiff filed its application to enter judgment on February 11, 2025, and served the same on Defendant at his address of record. See 2/11/25 Application and Declarations. Notwithstanding full notice that Defendant was allegedly in default and that Plaintiff was applying for entry of judgment, Defendant filed nothing to oppose the request for entry of judgment including any sort of defense. Moreover, Defendant has provided no credible explanation as to why he took no action to challenge the instant judgment until December 2025.

  "Given [Defendant's] inability to satisfy the satisfactory excuse or diligence prong, the Court need] address whether they have a meritorious defense." Kramer, 56 Cal.App. 5th at 38.

  In sum, the motion lacks merit and is denied."

  Judge's key finding: "Defendant has provided no credible explanation as to why he took no action to challenge the instant judgment until December 2025.”

  You had a chance to stop the judgment before it was entered by opposing the Application for Entry of Judgment on February 7 or February 11, 2025. You didn't.

  Instead, you waited 10 months and then tried to vacate it. By then, the statutory deadline had passed.

• Splash · March 14, 2026

  O jeez. Did you file your answer within 30 days of being served? What I had been taught is you need to file an answer in time, and then use Discovery to get at their weaknesses. That's your weapon. Also, you can use a few chatgpts to help you understand the next steps you have to take. Like for me, I gave them DIscovery requests, and if they don't reply, I have to confer with them, and then file for Motion to Compel a certain amount of days out, then do other steps until it's finally done. The thing to remember is court is on paper, so create a good record.

• shwiefels · March 14, 2026

  Yes I did file an answer on time. But I had settled. What happened was I phoned counsel for plaintiff letting them know I was having financial hardship and was gonna be late. They told me I needed to pay by a certain date which I did. But they had asked for 2 months which was a violation. They couldn’t ask for a payment that was not yet due. So they filed judgement. But on the phone and in the letter they sent me it said they would revisit payment terms so I thought they were gonna reach out. They never did. This was in February. In July, I received a piece of paper stating they had put a lien on my place. That's when I was like WTF. They said they’d revisit payment terms. I. Didn’t know I should have answered. So on November, 3 months late, I filed a motion to vacate under ccp 473b, but there was a deadline of 6 months, and the judge, the court, had the discretion to set aside defaults if the party demonstrated valid mistake or neglect. They said I did not demonstrate that reason. I thought I did. I was pro per and I didn’t know the rules of the court. So the judges sided with the plaintiff. Wish I was on it sooner. But I was learning the ways of the court. I did win my other 2 cases though.

• brian · March 17, 2026

  Great work shwiefels. Do you have some proof and documents of your two wins you could share. If there is enough there: The Complaint, Your Answer and any other documents, letters and the find dismissal order, I can do a video to help others and load up ParkerGPT to help with your desire to store all of this, win or lose. Thank you again. BPP

• shwiefels · March 21, 2026

  Brian,

  My wins are truly all thanks to you and the wisdom you bestow upon us, to give us the courage to be able to go stand in front of a judge and feel confident. I know I had to put in the work to see it all through, but in the end, I could not have done it without your shared knowledge.
  
  As for my 2 cases, let me know where to upload the docs and I will follow through.
  
  Thanks again buddy.

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