Widow Claims Collection Agency Hounded Husband to Death!

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009: TAMPA, Fla. – A widow claims that debt collectors hounded her husband to death with as many as nine caustic calls per day, causing stress that contributed to his fatal heart attack. She's suing the Florida couple's mortgage company in a unique wrongful death case.

Dianne McLeod wants Green Tree Servicing to pay damages for what she said are illegal collection practices that led to her husband's heart failure on Dec. 4, 2005. Her 57-year-old husband, Stanley, was already in poor health from a heart attack years earlier that also had left him on disability.

An executive at Green Tree Servicing called the claim "outrageous and meritless."

Lawsuits against debt collectors alleging illegal practices are common. But McLeod's Tampa attorney, William Howard, believes it's the first time one has ever been sued for wrongful death. John Nemo, a spokesman for the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals, said he's not aware of it happening before, either.

"I think people in the legal community are watching to see how it unfolds, because it's a pretty unique case," Nemo said.

Stanley McLeod had a heart attack while working at Sears in 1997, Howard said, and was never able to work full-time again. The family eventually fell behind on payments on their manufactured home in Keystone Heights near Gainesville.

Dianne McLeod said the collection calls from Green Tree Servicing, sometimes as many as nine per day, intensified in August 2005 and wore on her husband's health.

"His breathing got really labored, his face was red, he was sweating, you could tell he was getting ill" after the calls would come, she said in an interview.

Some of the calls were recorded on the family's answering machine, and Howard said he is eager to play them for a jury.

In one recorded message, an angry male caller says: "Stanley McLeod, you need to call Green Tree and get your act together and make a payment on your mortgage. Quit playing games." Then, presumably referring to the emergency aircraft that flew McLeod to the hospital after his heart attack, the caller said: "Why don't you have that helicopter pick you up and bring that payment to the office."

Other recorded calls gave him a deadline to pay a certain amount and threatened foreclosure. Some implored McLeod to call back so the company could try to work out payment arrangements with him.

Howard said the number and harassing tone of the calls broke Florida law. He said the company also illegally called a neighbor and McLeod's brother and grandson regarding the debt.

Howard sued Green Tree on the family's behalf in 2005, then added the wrongful death count in 2006 after Stanley McLeod died.

The case has been winding its way through courts since. Earlier this month, the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Florida again ruled against Green Tree in the company's efforts to force the case into arbitration. Howard said he will ask a judge to set the case for trial soon. He hasn't decided yet how much he will seek.

"What happened to Stanley McLeod happened to a lot of people," said Howard, who has about 500 pending cases that claim undue harassment by debt collectors. "To be held hostage in your own home is a terrible thing. It's a helpless feeling."

Howard works for the law firm of Morgan & Morgan, which has offices around the state, heading a division that sues debt collectors for unfair collection practices.

Brian Corey, senior vice present and general counsel for Green Tree Servicing, said the company is preparing to take the case to trial.

"We deny that collection calls, whether the content, number or timing, led to Mr. McLeod's death, and we look forward to defending this matter in a court proceeding instead of in the media," Corey said.

Joe Little, professor emeritus at the University of Florida law school, said Howard will have to convince a jury that harassment by the mortgage company was egregious enough to warrant punishment, and that the stress of the calls hastened McLeod's death.

Howard isn't likely to have an easy time connecting those elements for jurors, Little said, especially if McLeod was already in poor health when the calls began.

Nemo said the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act generally outlines the do's and don'ts of how collectors can operate. Most states also have statutes that augment the federal law, he said.

Just For You Communications

From a reader:

"On Friday July 27th of this year..I got on-line to view my checking account. I discovered that a company (Just For You Communications) who is suppose to be a marketing company has tried to draft a check to withdraw $110 from my account. I called my bank and they said it was done on Tuesday (July 24th) and I would need to sign a stop payment in order to stop the transfer of funds.

I did and it cost me 20 dollars. The bank did not seem to care that this was an unauthorized transaction and as I discovered later has been done to 47 other people. I called this company (JFYC) they said they were a collection agency and that they were authorized by AT&T to collect these funds for a debt I owed them. I called AT&T collection dept. and they informed they did not do business in that manner and had no knowledge of this company. Also I did not owe them anything. The person at JFYC also told me they would send me the paperwork they received and it should get to me in 7-10 days. I have yet to see it. I contacted the FTC the BBB and Consumer Affairs..the only one that told me they would investigate was the FTC. This is fraud and invasion of privacy...my question is does anyone care?

After doing this at least 47 times before...why hasn't this business been stopped? I want to know how they got my personal information? Can anyone answer these questions?"

Does anyone have any information about Just For You Communications?

Return Receipts: A NECESSITY

The prevalence of unethical and illegal practices by collection agencies means, unfortunately, that all correspondence sent to them must be sent return receipt requested.

Some agencies, such as Penncro, refuse to accept return receipt mail. The way around this is to get the address of the payment department, and send it there in an enveloped marked "payment processing." Tricky? Yes, but you will have proof that Penncro received it.

GC Services habitually ignores return receipt debt validation letters. This idiotic practice, apparently the brainchild of (soon to be unemployed?) GC Services executive Eric Bernhagen, is about to cost them a lucrative account with American Express.

In a recent lawsuit, Mann Bracken claimed not to have received a debt validation letter. They had to settle because the consumer had proof that it had been received by Mann Bracken.

Chris Diwan, associate attorney at Mann Bracken is often the one to sign the "we have no record of this" letters. He is also the one put under the microscope when the return receipt is produced.

Use them. They are cheap (see sample) and you can get delivery confirmation in emai!

Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against NAF

August 17, 2009: The law firm of Milberg LLP has filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of all persons who used NAF's arbitration services during the period from June 1, 2006 to the present, inclusive (the "Class Period").

Until recently, NAF held itself out as a leading forum for consumer arbitrations, which is how many consumer debt disputes are resolved. An arbitration forum must above all be impartial, so that consumers can be confident that their disputes with creditors (e.g., banks, credit card companies, phone companies, etc.) will be heard fairly, as would be the case if the dispute was resolved by a court of law.

The class action lawsuit filed against NAF and related parties alleges that NAF has misled consumers for years in this regard because it was owned by and/or beholden to a debt collection agency and debt collection law firm (Mann Bracken) such that in reality it was a debt collector, not a neutral forum for resolving disputes by the debt collection industry against consumers. The result of these alliances was near perfect success rates by debt collectors against consumers in NAF arbitrations.

Wells Fargo and Cheronda Guyton: Call for Investigation

Wells Fargo would like for you to believe that the Cheronda Guyton incident is an isolated occurrence.

Guyton, a senior vice president, moved into a multi-million dollar foreclosed property controlled by Wells Fargo and held lavish parties there.

Neighbors reported this after several months. Wells Fargo, hoping to do damage control, fired Guyton.

That is closing the barn door after the horse is gone.

Wells Fargo should have had means to detect, almost immediately, that the property was not being shown to potential buyers.

Wells Fargo should have acted in a matter of hours, not months, to reports that Guyton was living in the house. Wells Fargo should not only have fired Guyton, but pressed theft and trespass charges against her.

At this point, Wells Fargo, at its own expense, should be required to conduct a top to bottom audit of procedures involving control of foreclosed property.

The results of this audit should be made available to taxpayers, who are Wells Fargo shareholders.

Wells Fargo should be required, at its own expense (as in not with bailout money) to implement proper controls to ensure that this will not happen again.

Wells Fargo should be required, at its own expense, to conduct thorough internal investigations to demonstrate this was NOT an isolated incident.

Collector Abuses Senior Citizen, Has to Pay!

When senior citizen Dorothy Jones got home from having heart surgery, she thought the worst of her troubles were behind her. Then she got a call from a debt collector who didn't care that she was recently hospitalized. "He called me a thief, a liar, and said he was glad I wasn't his grandma." After days of the calls and abusive language, Jones found herself back in the hospital due to the stress and anxiety. Weeks later, she received a large check as a result of the collector's obnoxious behavior.

Victims like Dorothy can now call the Collection Complaint Hotline at (800) 379-0688. Since many collection agencies still believe that being "nice" doesn't get the bill paid, some continue to use threats or find other ways to harass to get people to pay up. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), collection complaints have risen steadily since 2003. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is a code of conduct which collection agencies must follow by law.

If they continue to call you at work after you ask them not to, or treat you rudely, or disclose your debt to any third parties; you may be entitled to money damages. "If they violate the requirements under the law, a victim can receive a speedy settlement, typically around $1500," says attorney Jeffrey Hyslip. In addition, the debt collector is required to pay the attorney fees for anyone that successfully sues them. Consumers can call the hotline to speak with a counselor about a troubling experience they are having with a collection agency. If a violation is found, the department will file a collection complaint and seek compensation from the collector. Hyslip, a former debt collector himself, has assisted over 5000 consumers with collection complaints. The group has helped victims recover over $3 million in the form of settlements. The Collector Complaint Hotline has been a useful ally for numerous consumer groups.