Once again, I made a trek to the Upper Darby district court, only to find that my opponent law firm, The Law Offices of Edward Abrahamsen and Associates, P.C. failed to appear to prosecute the case on behalf of their client, well known " junk" debt buyer, LVNV Funding, LLC. This was my fourth court appearance in six weeks, three in the Upper Darby court alone, where the Abrahamsen law firm failed to appear to prosecute cases on behalf of "junk" debt buyers. As a result, each of my clients was awarded judgment in their favor.
The Abrahamsen law firm is one of a handful of law firms who represent many of the "junk" debt buyers in our area. I have had very pleasant dealings with their attorneys, who have always been polite and respectful to me. Unfortunately, their clients, like many "junk" debt buyers, are flooding the courts with lawsuits in which they lack sufficient evidence to prove their cases.
Because of that, I don't think that the lawyers representing these type of clients can keep up with their own caseloads and, therefore, very often don't show up for court. For those of you who are not familiar with the term, "Junk" debt buyers refer to companies such, who purchase supposed "charged off" credit card accounts for pennies on the dollar. These folks then turn around and sue the alleged account holder for the face amount of the debt and, sometimes, ask for more money than what is allegedly owed. I say "allegedly" because, very often, the "junk" debt buyer, very often, does not have adequate documentation to prove that they own the account and to win the case in court. When challenged with a competent attorney, the "junk" debt buyers often lose in court.
Unfortunately, most people who are the target of the debt collection efforts of the junk debt buyers and their law firms don't realize that they can successfully defend the actions taken against them. In fact, there are many instances where the consumer does not even owe the alleged debt or the collection effort is being made beyond the Statute of Limitations, which is the time allowed under the law, to bring such actions. Despite these factors weighing in favor of the consumer, if the lawsuit is not defended, judgment will be entered by default, against the consumer.
What I find most interesting, is that, of all the many cases I've defended, I have yet to see one case where the debt buyer has submitted enough documents to win even one case. Despite that, a review of each of the court dockets of Delaware, Montgomery, Chester, Bucks and Philadelphia counties, reveals that most of these lawsuits end up in default judgments in favor of the debt buyers because nobody bothered to defend these winnable cases. If you are being victimized by one of these debt buyers or a debt collection law firm, please contact either myself or a competent, Philadelphia consumer attorney, in your area, immediately. You may not only be able to win the suit against you, but may find that you can turn the tables on the debt collectors and sue them.
Under the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ("FDCPA"), these debt collectors have very, clear rules that they must follow when collecting debts, whether it be by phone call, letter or the filing of a lawsuit. If the debt collector, including the "junk" debt buyers and their attorneys, do not follow these rules, you may be entitled to sue them and win up to $1000 in Federally mandated damages plus the possibility of recovering for other damages against the debt collectors. In addition, if you have a claim against the debt collectors and you successfully sue them, you will be awarded attorney's fees to pay for my efforts. So, don't sit on your rights. Act now and defend yourself!