When Credit Card Lawsuits Go Bad – Debt Lawyer Sanctioned for Pursuing Invalid Credit Card Debt

dreamstime 6651895 300x188 When Credit Card Lawsuits Go Bad – Debt Lawyer Sanctioned for Pursuing Invalid Credit Card Debt
In the matter of Erin Servs. Co., LLC v Bohnet, 2010 NY Slip Op 50327(U), a Nassau County District Court case, the tables turned on a debt collection company pursuing a credit card debt against a defaulting debtor. This assigned credit card debt lawsuit commenced in 2004, and resulted in a default judgment against the defendant, Patricia Bohnet, when she failed to appear in court. In 2009, Ms. Bohnet discovered the judgment when a debt collector contacted her at her place of employment. She moved for an order vacating and setting aside the default judgment and dismissing the complaint via an Order to Show Cause based upon the fact that she was never served with the complaint, and therefore had no notice to appear in court to defend herself.
When appearing on her motion, the Court concluded that the defendant was improperly served, and vacated her judgment. The Court ordered the plaintiff’s attorney to return with evidentiary proof that the defendant still owed a debt, and that the plaintiff, Erin Services, acquired a lawful assignment of a bona fide debt.
When Eltman, Eltman & Cooper, P.C., the plaintff’s lawyer, appeared and could not substantiate its case, even after submitting a copy of its file to the Court for inspection, the Nassau County District Court Judge not only dismissed the case with prejudice, but also sanctioned the plaintiff’s lawyer for various violations of the ethics requirements of Part 130 of the Uniform Court Rules.

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.

The Nassau County District Court Judge dismissed the action with prejudice, and fined the debt collector-attorney a total of $14,800.00 in sanctions for failing to satisfy its ethical obligation under Rule 130 when initiating credit card lawsuits. The defendant was personally awarded $4,800.00 as compensation for being subjected to continued harassing and improper phone calls by the plaintiff’s debt collectors, and for having to take time off from work to appear in court and obtain judicial relief in this matter.

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Comments

  1. James Hilton says:

    Would someone be able to comment if the 3rd party debt collector purchased the corporate debt and my personal guarantee from original creditor and is now suing me seeking full payment of this guaranteed debt of $15,000. They claim being excluded from the Fair Debt Collection Act being the debt is commercial and not consumer debt. Dothey need to validate debt, prove valid assignment and ownership of the debt, have paid value for the debt and produce a witness from original creditor testifying to the establishment of the original debt and subsequent assignment?

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