Michigan

Collection Attorneys - Do NOT pimp out your letterhead to your collection agency clients

Mr. Yaple, a California collection attorney represents (or may be represented) a California collection agency called TK Financial. Ms. Vlach, an Ohio consumer received a letter from Attorney Yaple in May of 2008 in which he informed her that he had been retained by TK Financial to pursue a debt against her. The letter also said that he intended to sue her and collect costs of the litigation and attorneys' fees. The letter was not signed by Mr. Yaple himself, but rather a typed signature. She is suing Mr. Yaple for violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

She also presented the court with two emails that purportedly came from Yaple that represented that he intended to file a lawsuit against her.

Mr. Yaple contends that he did not compose these communications. Rather, he states that a rogue collector at TK Financial had created mock letterhead and set up an email account. In any event, he is now in trouble whether he is culpable or not. Although he is a California attorney, he was to defend himself in federal court in Ohio as a defendant in a class action. The case has since been settled and dismissed. Missing from the court's docket was Mr. Yaple's third party complaint against TK Financial and the allegedly rogue collector. This glaring omission speaks to whether there was truly a rogue collector or whether Mr. Yaple was pimping out his letterhead.

Full post as published by Michigan Collection Law Blog on March 22, 2010 (boomark / email).