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Debt-Buyer Lawsuits And Inaccurate Data, Peter A. Holland
Debt-Buyer Lawsuits And Inaccurate Data, Peter A. Holland
Faculty Scholarship
Pursuant to secret purchase and sale agreements (also known as forward flow agreements), the accounts that banks sell to debt buyers are often sold “as is,” with explicit and emphatic disclaimers that the debts may not be owed, the amounts claimed may not be accurate, and documentation may be missing. Despite their full knowledge that the accuracy and completeness of the data has been specifically disclaimed by the bank, when they sue consumers, debt buyers tell courts that the information obtained from the bank is inherently reliable and accurate. In order to avoid a fraud on the courts, the contents …
Defending Junk-Debt-Buyer Lawsuits, Peter A. Holland
Defending Junk-Debt-Buyer Lawsuits, Peter A. Holland
Faculty Scholarship
Junk debt buyer lawsuits have overwhelmed the courts all across the United States. These lawsuits wreak havoc on consumers and their families. Often overlooked is the fact that judgments against consumers which are based on junk debt are part of a zero sum game, where every bogus judgment deprives a legitimate creditor of the chance to get paid from scarce resources. Thus, the legitimate creditor to whom money is owed is materially harmed by the junk debt buyer who extracts money based on an illegitimate claim, or who causes someone to declare bankruptcy. Providing representation to this otherwise unrepresented population …
My Brother's Keeper: An Empirical Study Of Attorney Facilitation Of Money-Laundering Through Commercial Transactions, Lawton P. Cummings, Paul T. Stepnowsky
My Brother's Keeper: An Empirical Study Of Attorney Facilitation Of Money-Laundering Through Commercial Transactions, Lawton P. Cummings, Paul T. Stepnowsky
Faculty Scholarship
In recent years, various “gatekeeping initiatives” have been introduced through inter-governmental standard-setting organizations, such as the Financial Action Task Force, as well as through federal legislation in the United States, which seek to apply the mandatory customer due diligence, record keeping, and suspicious activity reporting obligations contained in the existing anti-money laundering regime to lawyers when they conduct certain commercial transactions on behalf of their clients. The organized bar has argued against such attempts to regulate it, in part, due to the lack of empirical data showing that, as a threshold matter, lawyers unwittingly aid money laundering in a significant …
The One Hundred Billion Dollar Problem In Small Claims Court: Robo-Signing And Lack Of Proof In Debt Buyer Cases, Peter A. Holland
The One Hundred Billion Dollar Problem In Small Claims Court: Robo-Signing And Lack Of Proof In Debt Buyer Cases, Peter A. Holland
Faculty Scholarship
Recent years have seen the rise of a new industry which has clogged the dockets of small claims courts throughout the country. It is known as the "debt buyer" industry. Members of this $100 billion per year industry exist for no reason other than to purchase consumer debt which others have already deemed uncollectable, and then try to succeed in collecting where others have failed. Debt buyers pay pennies on the dollar for this charged off debt, and then seek to collect, through hundreds of thousands of lawsuits, the full face value of the debt. The emergence and vitality of …
Professional Responsibility In Crisis, Douglas L. Colbert
Professional Responsibility In Crisis, Douglas L. Colbert
Faculty Scholarship
Some rare, often catastrophic, events present in stark terms a need for careful reflection over the role of attorneys in our society and their ethical duties as members of the legal profession. The devastation caused by both Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 certainly falls within this category. Professor Colbert uses these events as a backdrop to examine the legal profession’s ethical obligation when crisis compromises the most basic elements of our system of justice. Acknowledging that numerous members of the bar and thousands of volunteer law students courageously stepped forward in those challenging …
Legal Ethics & Practical Politics: Musings On The Public Perception Of Lawyer Discipline, Paula A. Monopoli
Legal Ethics & Practical Politics: Musings On The Public Perception Of Lawyer Discipline, Paula A. Monopoli
Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.