Thursday, July 23, 2009
Cuomo sues collection attorneys - default judgments to be vacated
Cuomo Sues Debt Collectors, Law Firms to Toss Default Judgments
By Edvard Pettersson
July 23 (Bloomberg) -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sued 35 law firms and two debt collection agencies to throw out about 100,000 default judgments he said were improperly obtained in debt-related lawsuits.
Cuomo said in court papers filed July 21 in Buffalo, New York, that the firms and debt collectors relied on American Legal Process to notify the defendants they faced lawsuits and that the company failed to properly serve the consumers with legal papers. In April, Cuomo brought criminal charges against American Legal Process and its owner, William Singler.
“Our legal system is defined by due process and the guarantee that every New Yorker will get the chance to defend him or herself in court,” Cuomo said yesterday in a statement. “ALP’s scheme undermined the foundation of this system and denied thousands of individuals their day in court.”
Cuomo is asking the court to throw out default judgments, where the defendants failed to respond, in cases in which the law firms used American Legal Process to serve the defendants and in which the firms can’t provide evidence other than the company’s statements that the defendants were properly served.
Cuomo said in April that Singler and Long Island-based American Legal Process ran a fraudulent business scheme from January 2007 to October 2008 in which the company claimed to have served 98,000 debt-lawsuit summonses and complaints. The firm is also accused of concealing the fraud by falsifying sworn affidavits of proper service.
Corey Winograd, a lawyer representing Singler, didn’t return a call to his office seeking comment yesterday.
The case is In the matter of the petition of the Honorable Ann Pfau, I2009-8236, New York State Supreme Court, County of Erie (Buffalo.)
To contact the reporter on this story: Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at .
Last Updated: July 23, 2009 00:01 EDT
This is certainly great news for the people who were allegedly served by American Legal Process. However, does anyone really believe these practices are limited to NY? It seems like NY and MN and occasionally VA are the only states with any enforcement.
2008 - 2009 FCRA - FDCPA violations • Regulatory action against collectors • (0) Comments • Permalink
