Settlement may stop DAs from partnering with debt
collectors
Diane Karpman’s recent ethics article in the November
2012 California Bar Journal, “DA’s letters to debt collectors raise ethical
questions” should be supplemented by notice of the pending settlement in Smith
v. National Corrective Group, Inc. (Case No. 10-cv-0010 JSW, U.S. District
Court, Northern District of California)
In the proposed
settlement, consumers who received bad check collection notices on district
attorney stationery in California and Pennsylvania alleged that the debt
collector had violated the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, RICO,
California’s Unfair Competition Law and had made false or misleading statements.
The settlement states that those who received a
collection letter in the name of a California district attorney between Jan. 4,
2006 and Aug. 31, 2011 or a Pennsylvania district attorney between Jan. 25,
2004 and Aug. 31, 2011 must submit a claim by Feb. 14, 2013. The payment to
each claimant is $75.
Although the settlement does not address the ethical
behavior of the debt collectors or the district attorneys, it, if approved,
does appear to imply that the practice will not be used in the future.
James Ching
Sacramento, CA
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