AG to Sue NY Law Firm, Charges Process Co. Over Alleged 'Sewer Service'
The New York attorney general says he will sue a Long Island law firm and has already sued a major process-serving company in the state, contending that they were involved in multiple cases of “sewer service” in which parties to litigation were never properly served with court filings.
Additionally, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has also brought a criminal fraud case against William Singler and the American Legal Process company he heads, reports Newsday.
“I am putting all law firms on notice that they are responsible for the conduct of the companies they use to serve complaints and other legal documents. Law firms cannot turn a blind eye to abuses perpetrated on their behalf,” says Cuomo, referring to the civil litigation he plans to bring against Forster and Garbus. A filed notice of his plan to bring the litigation accuses the Farmingdale firm of violating state consumer protection laws.
Cuomo says the law firm, which specializes in debt collection, didn’t properly supervise ALP, Newsday reports. Forster and Garbus also knew or should have known, Cuomo contends, that a number of legal papers purporting to show that some of the 28,000 or so filings served on the firm’s behalf by the Long Island-based company between 2007 and 2008 were not factually based, the newspaper recounts.
On one occasion, a process server would have had to drive 10,000 miles in a day to have served all the individuals claimed, according to the AG.
Senior partner Ronald Forster says his firm has a good reputation and will vigorously defend the case. ALP is an independent contractor, he tells Newsday, so “it’s kind of silly to hold me responsible.” His law firm uses roughly a dozen different process-serving companies, Forster says.
Attorney Corey Winograd of Manhattan represents Singler. He says his client will plead not guilty, and wasn’t aware of any wrongdoing by his process servers. Trusted by Singler, some process servers have “betrayed that trust,” Winograd tells the newspaper.
Singler, who was arrested this morning in Long Island, was to be arraigned later today in Hempstead on charges of criminal possession of a forged instrument, offering a false instrument for filing, operating a scheme to defraud and committing fraud through being a notary public. The Newsday article doesn’t specify the criminal charges against the company.
A more wide-ranging investigation by Cuomo’s office into possible debt-collection abuses by others continues, the newspaper says, citing unidentified sources.
Additional coverage:
North Country Gazette: “AG Sues Process Server ALP For ‘Sewer Service’ “
