The Nassau County District Court Judge held that the plaintiff’s lawyer:
• failed to improperly investigate whether the defendant actually lived at the address listed on the summons at the time of service;
• failed to supervise its process server with respect to making proper service upon the defendant;
• filed an affidavit of service that it knew or should have known included a false claim of personal service upon the defendant;
• filed a “verified complaint” without investigating the factual basis for its claims that First USA extended credit to the defendant, that the defendant failed to make required payments, and that the balance was duly demanded by First USA and was then due and owing;
• filed a “verified complaint” without investigating whether First USA has duly and properly assigned all right, title and interest in the account to the plaintiff, Erin Services Co., LLC, prior to the commencement of the action;
• failed to investigate whether the plaintiff had taken an assignment of a claim for the sole purpose of bringing suit upon it in violation of Judiciary Law §489;
• failed to investigate whether the defendant had been given notice of the assignment before the plaintiff commenced suit against the defendant as an alleged assignee;
• filed an affidavit from an assistant secretary of the plaintiff, falsely claiming “personal knowledge” of facts respecting the alleged underlying debt; among other findings.
Join the Conversation: