New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo filed the lawsuit against 35 law firms and two debt collectors in New York State in order to throw out an estimated 100,000 default judgments improperly obtained against New York consumers. That’s a big number, especially since the AGs office estimates that the average default judgment totaled approximately $5,474, so total reparation being sought is $5,474 x 100,000. or 5.474 billion dollars.
Link to lawsuit: http://www.oag.state.ny.us/media_center/2009/july/pdfs/5015%20Suit.pdf.
If you’ve been a reader of this site for any length of time, you’re familiar with the fact that some law firms operating as debt collectors and some debt collection firms have resorted to lawsuits in recent times as the most effective way to collect debt. However, when a lawsuit is filed, the Defendant MUST be notified of the lawsuit in order to be given a chance to defined themselves against the lawsuit. If improper service existed in the case, this is legal grounds to vacate (dismiss, expunge) the lawsuit. As a matter of fact, improper service is the number one basis for filing a motion to vacate a judgment.
In New York, as in most states, the process server (the person or company delivering notice of the suit) must be a impartial third party. After service, the process server sends to the court an affidavit to verify that the Defendants have been properly served, which becomes part of the case file. The firms named in the lawsuit engaged a company called American Legal Process (ALP), to handle their process service.
ALP, however, allegedly engaged in “sewer service,” where process servers take advantage of individuals facing lawsuits by failing to properly alert them and denying them the chance to respond. As a result, tens of thousands of judgments were obtained against unsuspecting New Yorkers, many of whom first learned they were being sued when they found their bank accounts frozen or their wages garnished. ALP covered up the fraud by falsifying sworn affidavits of service in courts across New York.
The law firms and debt collectors named in the suit are: Forster & Garbus; Sharinn and Lipshie; Kirschenbaum & Phillips, P.C.; Solomon and Solomon, P.C; Goldman & Warshaw, P.C.; Eltman Eltman and Cooper; Eric M. Berman, P.C.; Stephen Einstein & Associates, P.C.; Fabiano and Associates; Jones Jones Larkin O’Connell; Panteris & Panteris, LLP; Zwicker and Associates; Relin, Goldstein & Crane; Woods Oviatt Gilman; Leschack & Grodesnky; Hayt Hayt & Landau; Pressler & Pressler; Jaffe & Asher; Mullen & Iannarone; Arnold A. Arpino & Associates; Houslanger & Associates; Mann Bracken, LLC; Smith Carroad Levy & Finkel; McNamee, Lochner Titus & Williams; Thomas Law Office; Fleck, Fleck & Fleck; Eric Ostrager; Cohen & Slamowitz, LLP; Cullen and Dykman LLP; Winston & Winston, P.C.; Cooper Erving & Savage, LLP; Robert P. Rothman, P.C; Gerald D. DeSantis; Greater Niagara Holdings, LLC; Rodney A. Giove; Advanced Litigation Services, LLC; and Jason L. Cafarella.
Go get ‘em, Mr. Cuomo!
Have you been a victim of this fraud? We want to hear from you! Let us know by leaving a comment.
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you are a real idiot, the AG can’t just throw them out himself moron. There is a legal process. Your headline is patently false.
I may be a moron, but I least I know grammar and punctuation.
first of all, its not 100,000 default judgments. it’s 100,000 affidavits of service.
I can pretty much guarantee not all of them were default judgments, there is no possible way.
I would expect maybe 10-20 thousand judgments to be vacated if that much at all.
Some of these companies listed in the suit are huge and have multi million dollar lawyers representing them and will not go down without a fight.
Oh and there is an easy way not to be a victim in this mess. PAY YOUR BILLS!!!
Thanks for the clarification.
What if they are not your Bills Tony? I was sued for someone else’s Bills and I won.
Hello, I am also a victim of Sewer Service. In my case, it should be a slam dunk to prove since the Process Server’s affidavit explains he made multiple attempts at my address, that it is a private residence, that nobody was there during those days and that he even spoke with a neighbor. The problem is my mailing address is a UPS Store (formerly Mail Boxes, Etc) in a shopping center with a Pathmark Supermarket and Office Depot, there was alsways somebody there when he claims to have dropped by and the neighbor he named is actually another box holder. My home address is a matter of record so there is simply no excuse for his failure to locate me or his false affidavit. The lawsuit is pretty cute too. it is for something from Sears that I don’t remember. The lawyer has refused to provide any documentation and the debt, even if real, expired within a week of the filing of the lawsuit. Would you know a specific person in the New York AG’s office I could contact? All attempts so far just get me somebody who says I should fill out a consumer complaint form. Thanks! Todd
I would just call the AG’s office, tell them that you heard about this stuff and ask to be directed to the right place.
I work for one of the companies named in the complaint, It was my job to go over every single file that the AG wants “thrown out” and out of over 700 affidavits of service, there was only 1 that could potentially be a problem. The problem that the AG has is that each case has to be looked at on a case by case basis and the courts as well as the AG do not have the time and resources to look at 101,000 affidavits of service. This will be years upon years of litigation and will end up being settled eventually.
Nice to see all you Collection Agencies monitoring our site. I am a victim of this sweep. I suspected while going through the validation process the Law firm was delaying me to obtain default judgement. Well I did find out that I was indeed sued, and complained about this sewer service. So the judge did not accept this and took the word of the “attorney”. Gee they would not lie about this. Well now the AG has requested the case be overturned as the judge accepted service from a firm where the owner is under arrest. I have now made complaints to the FTC, who is also looking into this, as they believe they continued to collect without verification. The NYC Consumer is now also looking into the practice of trying to collect debts in NYC without a license. Thanks to the AG’s suit. Looks like my rights were trampled on and I am going to sue the bloodsuckers in Federal Court for damages. No Summary Judgement this time, they probably have to comply with discovery this time around. Attorney is working on a contingency, so it’s only costing me time. Also discussing class actions against these firms.
Class action attorneys also have multimillion dollars. The client will end up with a small settlement portion, and the class action attorneys with the bulk, but who cares! It will still cost the CA’s millions! Will definitely put a dent in their way of doing business. By the way are these agencies now using legit process servers? Bet other process servers will soon be having their records checked. It pretty simple, they can’t process all the cases as fast as they were claiming. Some were in three towns at the same time. They cooked their own goose.
WE WILL MISS MR CUMO THE HERO THAT WENT AFTER THIS COMPANYS THAT HARRAS PEOPLE WITH THEIR FRAUD
I was served a writ of summons , merely left on my porch , I live in NH and it was by Zwicker and Assoc. It was blowing across the yard and I happened to pick it up.