Daily Digest – April 25. Banned Collector Fined $2 Million; Law Firms Sued For FDCPA Scheme Fight Back Against Agency Owner

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COURT ORDERS BANNED COLLECTOR TO PAY $2 MILLION FINE

• More than two years after filing a lawsuit against Commercial Recovery Systems and its president, Timothy Ford, a federal court has ordered Ford to pay a $2 million civil penalty for his role in a debt collection operation that falsely threatened debtors. As part of the scam, collectors working for CRS would “sue debtors, garnish their wages, levy their bank accounts, or seize their property unless their debts were paid,” according to the Federal Trade Commission.

N.J. LAW FIRMS SUED FOR FDCPA SCHEME FIGHT BACK AGAINST AGENCY OWNER

• The law firms accused by a collection agency owner of engaging in a “Mafia-style” racketeering scam are fighting back, filing a motion to have sanctions placed against Jeffrey Winters and his company, Collection Solutions. The firms have also filed a motion to have the lawsuit dismissed. The original lawsuit was filed last December against three law firms, accusing them of filing class-action lawsuits alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, even though there was never a chance the class would be certified and no damages were realized.

CLASS-ACTION SUIT AGAINST MIDLAND CERTIFIED FOR ALLEGEDLY FAILING TO DISCLOSE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS EXPIRATION

• A class-action lawsuit against Midland Credit Management, a unit of Encore Capital, involving nearly 69,000 potential members has been certified by a District Court judge in Illinois. The suit claims that Midland failed to disclose that individuals receiving collection letters could not be sued because the statute of limitations had expired. The class is open to any person in Illinois who received such a letter. Midland had argued that the class should not be certified because all the members of the class did not suffer the same injuries. The judge disagreed.

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The Daily Digest is sponsored by T-Max Dialer & Communications, the leader in hosted inbound and outbound dialer technology.