- Examples Of Abusive Phone Calls From Out Of Control Debt Collectors
Posted May 14, 2008, 12:18 pm by John Watts & M. Stan Herring
Our friend Pete Barry, who is an extraordinary consumer lawyer in Minnesota, was recently interviewed and shared a few of his tape recordings of abusive debt collectors. We recommend you watch this video. If you have never dealt with abusive debt collectors, this will open your eyes to what real people are facing. If you have dealt with abusive debt collectors, then you can realize you are not alone. In any event, if you live in Alabama and are having to face abusive collection agencies, please...
- What Are The Four Benefits Of The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act For Alabama Consumers?
Posted May 13, 2008, 12:05 pm by John Watts & M. Stan Herring
Alabama consumers who are harassed by debt collectors and debt buyers often wonder if the law really helps them - that is, what do they get out of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)? Many things, but four primary ones. First, you get up to $1,000 in statutory damages from a collection agency or debt buyer who has violated the FDCPA. You get this even if you cannot prove any actual damages. This is designed this way in order to encourage people who have been abused to sue the debt...
- Bad Economy - Good News For Abusive Debt Collectors?
Posted May 12, 2008, 7:56 am by John Watts & M. Stan Herring
A story last month in Business Week discussed how the sub prime mess and sluggish economy in general has created a good opportunity for debt collectors and debt buyers to make more money on the rising level of defaulted debts. In the early 1990s the consumer debt-buying industry began to gain steam, and in 2005 debt buyers purchased about $110 billion of delinquent debts, about twice the amount bought in 2000. Credit-card debt consists of about 70% of the accounts sold to debt buyers, followed...
- Recalls of the Week
Posted May 12, 2008, 7:55 am by Craig P. Niedenthal
My weekly installment of the recalls that hit last week on consumer products. Let's get right to it: 1. MUNCHKIN DELUXE BOTTLE AND FOOD WARMER: When we were new parents with our first born, 17 years ago, the big craze was "wipe warmers". You would put your baby wipes in there and it would keep them nice and warm so at night when you had to change your kid, they wouldn't freak out from the cold wipe on their bottom. Well, Munchkin Inc., a company based out of California, makes a Deluxe Bottle...
- Drug and Device Law - A Must for ALL Drug Lawyers
Posted May 11, 2008, 12:28 pm by Craig P. Niedenthal
Have to give a shout out to this Blawg (didn't spell it wrong; blogs dedicated to legal issues are referred to as "blawgs") which is an absolute MUST read for any lawyer, plaintiff or defendant, doing pharmaceutical litigation. Drug and Device Law, which is a blawg written by two lawyers involved in the defense of the pharmaceutical industry, provides in depth analysis to legal issues facing the pharmaceutical lawyer these days in a smart, insightful, and yeah, many times witty manner. No...
- Seminar Paper On The Fair Credit Reporting Act Related To Debt Collectors - Part Five - Conclusion
Posted May 11, 2008, 7:41 am by John Watts & M. Stan Herring
This is the final part of our seminar paper presented to collection and consumer lawyers at the University of Alabama Law School. Please contact us if you have any questions. V. CONCLUSION Using the credit reporting tool can be very useful for debt collectors. It can assist debt collectors in collecting the right debts from the right people. In our practice one of the reasons clients come to see us about suing debt collectors is because the debt collector's account on the consumer's credit...
- Seminar Paper On The Fair Credit Reporting Act Related To Debt Collectors - Part Four - Dangers To Debt Collectors From Consumer Disputes
Posted May 10, 2008, 7:36 am by John Watts & M. Stan Herring
In this fourth part of our seminar paper, we look at the impact of consumer disputes either directly to a debt collector or to the credit reporting agencies concerning false information put on the consumer's credit report by the collection agency. IV. DANGERS TO DEBT COLLECTORS FROM CONSUMER DISPUTES There are two areas in which a debt collector needs to be able to properly handle "disputes" from consumers. One arises out of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the other is from...
- Seminar Paper On The Fair Credit Reporting Act Related To Debt Collectors - Part Three - Pulling Credit Reports - Harmful Or Helpful
Posted May 9, 2008, 7:31 am by John Watts & M. Stan Herring
This is the third part of our paper we handed out at a seminar we recently gave at the University of Alabama Law School to collection and consumer lawyers. We hope this is helpful to you as debt collectors very often pull credit reports. Sometimes that is allowable but other times it is illegal so you should always check your credit reports to see if debt collectors are pulling your reports. If they are, demand that they tell you the basis for doing so. III. PULLING CREDIT REPORTS - HELPFUL OR...
- Seminar Paper On The Fair Credit Reporting Act Related To Debt Collectors - Part Two - Overview Of The FCRA
Posted May 8, 2008, 4:31 am by John Watts & M. Stan Herring
As we mentioned yesterday, we are putting up parts of our seminar paper that we recently presented at the University of Alabama Law School. This deals with credit reports and debt collectors and we presented this to collection lawyers and consumer lawyers. As always, please feel free to contact us if you have any questions. II. OVERVIEW OF THE FCRA A. Players Furnishers are those individuals or companies (including debt collectors) that furnish or provide information to the CRAs about...
- Baxter Says Its Taken No Legal Hit from Heparin
Posted May 7, 2008, 4:02 pm by Craig P. Niedenthal
Baxter International, the manufacturer of Heparin, the blood thinner recently pulled off the market because of alleged tampering of the product which was made in China, reported that it has not felt much legal ramifications from the problem. This is despite the fact there has been a reported 80 deaths and 1000 adverse reactions due to the problem. What I find interesting is how Baxter is trying their hardest to paint this as a tampering issue. Essentially, they have told the FDA and the FDA has...
- Seminar Paper On The Fair Credit Reporting Act Related To Debt Collectors - Part One - Introduction
Posted May 7, 2008, 4:23 am by John Watts & M. Stan Herring
We recently were asked to present a seminar at the University of Alabama that was attended by consumer lawyers and collection lawyers. We prepared a written paper to go with the presentation and we will attach the entire paper as a pdf but for now we will put it up in sections over the next several days. We hope this will be helpful. If you have any questions about debt collectors and how credit reports relate to them, please let us know. I. INTRODUCTION Debt collectors can use the reporting of...
- What Is An Offer Of Judgment And Why Did The Debt Collector Make One In My Case?
Posted May 6, 2008, 6:08 pm by John Watts & M. Stan Herring
Sometimes Alabama consumers are faced with an "offer of judgment" in cases by debt collectors. An offer of judgment (OOJ) is made under Rule 68 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. It means what it says - the defendant is offering to allow the plaintiff consumer to take a judgment against the defendant. Odd, huh? The reason defendant debt collectors do this is to "stop the bleeding" by limiting the damages that the plaintiff can recover. It is similar to a normal settlement offer but it has...
- Rule 59.1 Renders Appeal from Probate Court Untimely
Posted May 6, 2008, 1:28 pm
In Morrison v. Phillips, released May 2, 2008, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals dismissed an appeal from a probate court judgment as untimely filed by operation of Rule 59.1. In Morrison, the probate court entered a judgment of final settlement of the estate on January 11, 2007. Phillips filed a postjudgment motion on January 19, 2007. That motion was set for a hearing on April 25, 2007--a date more than 90 days after the motion was filed. On April 26, 2007, Phillips filed what she termed a...
- Motion to Reconsider the Denial of a Post-Judgment Motion a Nullity; Ruling Thereon Will Not Support an Appeal
Posted May 6, 2008, 11:43 am
In N.F.N. and L.C.N. v. J.M.M.J, released on May 2, 2008, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals dismissed an appeal from a judgment awarding custody because the order appealed from purported to rule on a motion to reconsider the denial of a postjudgment motion. On September 13, 2006, more than 14 days after the entry of the juvenile court's August 22, 2006 judgments, the aunt and uncle moved the juvenile court to "reconsider" that judgment. On January 4, 2007, the juvenile court entered an order...
- Recalls of the Week
Posted May 5, 2008, 2:37 pm by Craig P. Niedenthal
The second installment of Recalls of the Week. A few interesting items have shown up this week. 1. BROIL KING GAS GRILLS: These gas grills, which were sold at various independent retailers throughout the country, are being recalled because the cook box where the burners are can melt or crack and cause a grease fire. There are about 4800 of these grills and include the Signet, Sovereign and Sovereign XL series. You should stop using the grill immediately and contact the manufacturer, Onward...
- Cases Released May 2, 2008
Posted May 4, 2008, 1:10 pm
From the Supreme Court of Alabama: Ex parte Abrams, In re: Abrams v. State of Alabama Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama, for its division, University of Alabama Hospital, and Gadsden Regional Medical Center v. American Resources Insurance Company et al. From the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals: N.F.N. and L.C.N. IV v. J.M.M.J., S.D.J.H., and Mobile County Department of Human Resources Denson v. Moses E.H. v. N.L. Morrison v. Phillips J.B. v. Cleburne County Department of Human...
- Seat Belt Recall
Posted May 4, 2008, 5:28 am by Jon Lewis
Toyota Motor Corp. has recalled 90,189 Highlander SUV's because third-row seat belts may not lock in some child-safety seats. So far, there have been no complaints of injuries as a result of the defect, but what if there had been? The U. S. Chamber of Commerce talks about frivilous lawsuits and the need for extreme tort [...]
- Why We Sue Abusive Debt Collectors Instead Of Just Asking Them To Stop
Posted May 3, 2008, 5:53 am by John Watts & M. Stan Herring
Sometimes defense lawyers tell us we should have just told the debt collectors that we caught them doing something wrong (harassing conduct, false credit reporting, contacting third parties, etc) and let them fix it instead of suing them. While at first this sounds reasonable, the reason the debt collectors want this is very malicious. Collection agencies think they should be allowed to violate the law and then when one out of ten or one out of a hundred consumers hires a lawyer, then the...
- Have You Been Sent A "Fax Verification" At Your Work - A Classic Dirty Trick Of Debt Collectors
Posted May 2, 2008, 5:43 am by John Watts & M. Stan Herring
Alabama consumers often face this dirty trick which violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) - a collector will send in a "fax verification" or "employment verification" to the consumer's work. Supposedly this is to find out if the consumer works there but the real reason is to embarass and shame the consumer as all illegal third party contact is designed to do. Debt collectors use this because it is effective. No consumer wants a call from "Human Resources" or the payroll...
- Take Another One Away
Posted May 1, 2008, 6:27 pm by Jon Lewis
Well, another judge has taken away a jury verdict. Where's the outrage? The whole point of juries is for twelve individuals to come together to make a unified decision. Instead, Circuit Judge William Gordon has decided that the twelve individuals who heard the Ray Keller v. NCAA case in Jackson County were wrong. Instead, Judge [...]