I was given a little card by a policeman (maybe a sheriff deputy?) Saying I had to go take the card to some office at the court house. When I got there, they had me sign something and handed me the papers. I asked does this mean I am being sued? It took a while to register.
Of course I turned it all over to my insurance company, who had people there to help me. Does your friend have insurance?
If she has insurance tell her to be calm, she will be ok. She needs to get the papers and send copies to her insurance. If she doesn’t go to court though, first the person will win by default. If she gets subpeonaed and doesn’t show up she can get a failure to appear charge. You don’t go to jail in this country for owing money but you do go to jail for contempt of court or failure to appear. It is really important to deal with these things head on even if they are scary.
If she has no insurance and she cannot pay, she can fight the complaint in court (what the heck, it’s worth a try.) and when the judge talks about payment I have heard people can show their pay checks and how much they earn and set up a payment plan. I mean you can’t get blood from a turnip. As long as she shows up in court, doesn’t commit perjury and does whatever is asked by the judge, she will be ok. She doesn’t want a contempt of court or failure to appear charge. That just makes things go from not a big deal to a huge deal. I also hear that in some cases you can file bankruptcy. I’m not sure about that. I would definitely speak to a lawyer about it.
Welcome to America. It’s bad here. Have insurance.