Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Consumer Law Blogs -> Credit Law Network

Consumer Law

: Credit Law Network

Why Collection Abuse Lawyers Aren?t Lawsuit Mills

By Jay Fleischman, New York Bankruptcy Lawyer

Lawyers who represent consumers in foreclosures, collection abuse or civil lawsuit defense matters often refer to attorneys on the other side as “mills.”  In my experience, that’s not too far off the mark; when law firms file huge numbers of lawsuits at a clip without any meaningful involvement by the attorneys allegedly in charge, that’s a mill.

It may also be malpractice on the part of the lawyers who pen their names to the complaints, but that’s the subject of another article on another day.

Now here comes a Denver Post article that characterizes as “lawsuit mills” those attorneys who file Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuits on behalf of consumers.

Citing law firms that file upwards of 412 lawsuits per year, the article says that the FDCPA fuels

lawsuit mills cranking out hundreds of cases yearly ? thousands nationally ? enriching the lawyers filing them and minimally helping the consumers for whom the laws were written.

On the flip side, debt buyers filed over 450,000 lawsuits ? in New York City alone ? between January 2006 and July 2008.  That’s about 300,000 such cases brought each year in a single metropolitan area.

728 debt collection lawsuits for each consumer claim filed by the firm cited in the article.  Surely, the characterization of the consumer protection bar as filled with evil, greedy lawsuit mills is misplaced.

Reading the article it becomes clear that the “lawsuit mill” moniker is nothing more than sensationalism of the highest order, meant to incite the public at the terrible lawyers who would dare to bring legal action against the fine, upstanding debt collectors.

Consumer protection lawyers fight for their clients when they’ve been wronged.  If the industry can’t take the heat then perhaps it should remain in compliance with the law.

Nothing would make me happier than to be put out of work because consumers are being treated fairly.  Sadly, it ain’t gonna happen.

Image credit:  djprybyl/Flickr

 

Liked This Article? Why Not Share It?emailLinkedInDiggStumbleUponFacebookGoogle BuzzTwitter

Full post as published by Credit Law Network on March 03, 2011 (boomark / email).