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Legal Ethics

New York AG Sues 35 Law Firms, Seeks to Void 100,000 Default Judgments

Posted Jul 22, 2009 2:16 PM CST
By Martha Neil

The attorney general of New York has sued 35 law firms and two collectors in a case that could overturn 100,000 default judgments in consumer debt cases.

In a lawsuit filed today in Buffalo, Andrew Cuomo seeks to compel cooperation from firms that had relied on what may be faulty service by a Long Island process server that has previously been criminally charged concerning its work, according to the New York Daily News and the New York Law Journal.

The Erie County action was filed by Cuomo on behalf of the court system, and does not allege any wrongdoing by the law firms, the legal publication reports. However, it asks a state trial court to require the defendants to identify all cases they handled in which American Legal Process provided required service, and provide information about all default judgments obtained and any payments made to satisfy these judgments.

It also asks the court to order the firms to notify affected consumers of their right to be heard and seeks restitution on behalf of those against whom faulty default judgments were issued. The total amount of the default judgments could exceed $500 million, reports the New York Times. Although court orders allowed creditors to seize money directly from consumers' bank accounts, it isn't clear how much of this amount was actually collected.

Under some circumstances, it appears that default judgments could be re-entered (assuming they are voided as Cuomo requests) if proper service is established, according to the New York Law Journal.

The defendants include the New York City-based law firms of Stephen Elnstein & Associates; Eltman Eltman & Cooper; Jones Jones Larkin O’Connell; and Leshack & Grodensky, the Daily News reports.

A lawyer representing American Legal Process didn't immediately return the Times phone calls. None of the articles includes any response from the law firm and debt collector defendants.

Earlier coverage:

ABAJournal.com: "AG to Sue NY Law Firm, Charges Process Co. Over Alleged ‘Sewer Service’"

Updated at 3:40 p.m. to include information from subsequent New York Times article.

Comments

1.

anonymous
Jul 22, 2009 4:37 PM CST

“and does not allege any wrongdoing by the law firms.”

Of course not!  Can’t go after a fellow lawyer can we?  Old boy’s network.

Same reason none of these attorney generals will go after the law schools for career reporting fraud.

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2.

B. McLeod
Jul 22, 2009 9:58 PM CST

Which is not to say there won’t be amendments if discovery actually shows there was wrongdoing by the law firms.

This suit reinforces a basic point of due process, once noted by Bob Dylan: you can’t just file the papers, “you gotta serve somebody.”

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3.

Be McLeod
Jul 23, 2009 10:29 AM CST

For more information, please refer to my ridiculous blog posting on this very subject…

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4.

B. McLeod
Jul 23, 2009 10:37 AM CST

Another wishful imitator.  Where do they all come from?

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5.

Be McLeod - I have no clients, so I spend my time
Jul 23, 2009 1:18 PM CST

[see how the writing is the same?] Done and done.

http://mcleodlawoffices.com/2009/07/debt_collection_fraud/

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6.

B. McLeod
Jul 23, 2009 6:16 PM CST

Interesting, isn’t it?  Somewhere in the past 1200 years, we probably have a common ancestor. 

One of my uncles bore a striking resemblance to the late Chief John MacLeod of MacLeod (who was, himself a twin, leading to many colorful adventures during the Chief’s lifetime).  However, my uncle and Chief John could not have been in any close degree of kinship, given their respective lines of descent.  It is simply an occasional oddity that one encounters, finding sometimes striking similarities between far-distant descendants of McLeod.

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7.

DR
Jul 23, 2009 6:37 PM CST

I get the same thing…McLeod.  Just because my last name is identical to a character’s last name in the first “Godfather” film, people make certain innocent and not-so-innocent assumptions about my background, breeding and intentions.  ‘Tis a shame for them but I carry myself with pride.

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8.

DR
Jul 23, 2009 6:42 PM CST

Sorry for my error.  The Godfather Part II.  I tend to take a holistic approach to Michael Corleone’s life.

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9.

B. McLeod
Jul 23, 2009 6:48 PM CST

All good movies.

It is just amazing that there are posters on the site who are attacking this lawyer in Boston simply for having a name and writing style similar to mine.  I wonder if they are (or should be) on medication.

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10.

DR
Jul 23, 2009 7:58 PM CST

Listen, one of the things that I hated about law school (and I went as a “non-traditional” student who had happily invested in prior pursuits) was the immaturity of some of my colleagues.  I don’t think it had to do with age…I think that the profession is attracting less and less people who take stake in who they are and what they should represent. 

I can put up the trolls espousing extreme political views on here.  They are easy and I actually find them humorous in a perverse sort of way.  It bugs me, though, when people who hold themselves out as lawyers but act like high schoolers.  It is not just here…I see it often in my real life.  Sometimes I feel embarrassed for the profession.

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11.

World Weary
Jul 24, 2009 7:02 AM CST

DR, B. McLeod:

Sadly, our profession is but a reflection of our uncivil society as a whole.

I keep trying to take the high road, but it’s a lonely road, and in deep disrepair . . . .

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