If you have been sued by LVNV Funding LLC, Resurgent Capital Services, Alegis Group, Sherman Acquisition, Sherman Funding or Sherman Financial Group, your case may have been dismissed!!!
Chief Judge Ben C. Clyburn of the District Court of Maryland signed an order on October 26, 2011 staying the cases filed by the the above companies for violations of the Maryland Collections Agency Licensing Act and the Maryland Consumer Debt Collection Act. So, if you have been sued by any of the above named companies the litigation is terminated and you may also be able to strike the prior judgment.
Furthermore, the State of Maryland’s Collection Agency Licensing Board in the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Regulation, on October 25, 2011, issued a Summary Suspension of Collection Agency Licenses of these same companies and a number of related businesses.
According to the Summary Order to Cease and Desist and Summary Suspension of Collection Agency Licenses, issued by the Maryland State Collection Agency Licensing Board, these companies engaged in numerous collection violations including falsification of affidavits that were part of their lawsuits to collect the debts. These included “knowingly violating the Maryland Rules of Procedure” and submitted affidavits that “artfully crafted language intended to deceive the courts and consumer defendants.” These companies also were “requested and collecting impermissible compound interest” and were “knowingly requesting and collecting unauthorized attorney’s fees and prejudgment interest at unauthorized rates.” In addition, the Board found that these debt buyers made “intentionally false statements…to conceal” the business relationships between the buyers and sellers of the debt. Lastly, the Board found that LVNV filed cases in which it did not have valid title to the debts.
The Baltimore Sun reported that more than 27,000 cases were filed by these debt collectors in the last 6 years- See:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-lvnv-debt-collection-license-20111028,0,2807830.story
These dismissed cases are in addition to the thousands of prior cases dismissed involving Sunshine Financial Group and Midland Funding, see:
1. http://www.courts.state.md.us/press/2011/pr20110921.html
The moral of the story is, if you are being sued by a debt collector, especially a debt buyer (not the original credit card company or store) file a Notice of Intent to Defend and make the party suing you prove their case in Court! Call me if you have any questions.
Below is the actual Order from the District Court of Maryland and the State Collection Agency Licensing Board. If you start on page 16 of the Board’s Summary Order, you will be amazed at their findings: