Consumer Law

Son’s Death Leaves Mom with Big Tax Bill on Forgiven Student Loan Debt

If a student loan borrower is unable to repay the money because he or she dies, that’s the end of the story, not only for the lender but the Internal Revenue Service, too. If the borrower is the parent of the deceased student, however, that’s a different story. And Regina…

Sep 19, 2012 6:10 PM CDT

City Attorney Seeks Payday-Loan Claimants with Intern’s ‘Pay Me Maybe’ Video

An Oct. 1 deadline is looming for some California consumers to file claims under a statewide settlement with two payday loan companies. That fact is being publicized in a new video called “Pay Me Maybe,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle blog SF Gate, the Huffington Post and the San…

Sep 19, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Attorneys Wage Scorched-Earth Legal Battle Over $11K Share of ‘Millionaire’ Show Winnings

A hard-fought legal battle between two former friends who are both lawyers has resulted in an $11,376 award, multiple fines and legal ethics complaints and an ongoing appeal. It all began with an email in which Kevin Hirsch offered to help 20 friends with an automated phone quiz that could…

Sep 17, 2012 7:37 PM CDT

Debt Collectors Use DA Letterhead, with Permission, to Threaten Bad Check Writers

More than 300 district attorney’s offices across the United States are partnering with debt collectors that use prosecutors’ letterhead to warn bad check writers of possible jail time. Debt collection companies allowed to use DA letterhead may return the favor, the New York Times reports. “The companies try to collect…

Sep 17, 2012 1:56 PM CDT

Want to Weigh In on Web User Rights? Proposed Law Is Being Drafted by Individuals Online

At a time when privacy and intellectual property issues often collide with the day-to-day reality of what individuals and corporations consider ordinary uses of the Internet, an effort is afoot to create a Digital Citizen’s Bill of Rights. U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has posted a draft on the Madison…

Sep 14, 2012 7:10 PM CDT

Judge Tosses Suit Accusing DePaul Law School of Using Misleading Job Statistics

Corrected: Another judge has tossed another lawsuit accusing a law school of misleading prospective students through incomplete job statistics. On Wednesday, Judge Neil Cohen of Cook County dismissed the suit filed by nine graduates of DePaul University College of Law in Chicago, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports. The…

Sep 13, 2012 11:32 AM CDT

Federal Judge Certifies Class In ‘Sewer Service’ Suit Against NY Debt Collection Law Firm

A federal judge in Manhattan has certified a class that potentially includes thousands of plaintiffs in a lawsuit against consumer debt purchaser Leucadia National Corp. and a New York law firm, Mel S. Harris and Associates, that specializes in debt collection. Alleging violations of not only the federal Fair Debt…

Sep 12, 2012 3:51 PM CDT

8th Circuit OKs $222K Award But Avoids Ruling on Key Issue in Historic RIAA File-Sharing Case

After three jury trials, it appears that the legal saga of the first individual to fight a Recording Industry Association of America demand for payment for illegal downloading of copyrighted music still hasn’t come to an end. In a procedurally complex decision Tuesday, a federal appeals court panel held that…

Sep 11, 2012 8:52 PM CDT

Lawyer Who Checked Credit on Returned Items Accuses Forever 21 of a ‘Penny-Skimming Scheme’

Miami lawyer Carolyn Kellman claims she got less than she bargained for when she returned shorts and a skirt to Forever 21. Kellman, who works at the Strickland Law Firm, has filed a class action lawsuit alleging that refunds on both items were “exactly $0.01 less” than she was due,…

Sep 4, 2012 11:00 AM CDT

Legal Rebels 2012: If the Shoe Fits…

This is our fourth iteration of the ABA Journal’s Legal Rebels, our annual nod to lawyers who are helping change the profession in ways both big and small. These are the innovators—the folks who’ve found a different path, some new way to blend the needs of their clients or their…

Sep 1, 2012 10:40 AM CDT

Lawyers Help Low-Income Woman Contest $23,625 NYC Fine for Posting Flyers About Day Care Center

Two New York lawyers have gone to the defense of an immigrant fined $23,625 for posting flyers about her fledgling day care center. Yasmin Pujols, 45, had paid $250 to take a 45-day training course on opening a city-certified day care center in her home. But she says no one…

Aug 29, 2012 5:12 PM CDT

Columnist Praises Pro Bono Lawyers for Taking On Pro-Military and Constitutional Cases

A federal appeals judge recently criticized what he perceived as an undue emphasis by this country’s pro bono lawyers on pursuing higher-profile cases that display an antipathy toward the military. Meanwhile, he contended, rank-and-file service members have legal needs that go unserved. But there is, in fact, a program that…

Aug 24, 2012 1:45 PM CDT

Debt Collection Law Firm Sues Santa Clara and Clinical Law Prof for UPL, Seeks Fees Disgorgement

A law school’s pro bono legal clinic is improperly using a clinical professor’s law license to collect attorney’s fees, since the entity is not an attorney-owned law firm, a Los Angeles debt-collection law firm contends in a lawsuit. “Maybe what they’re doing is perfectly legal, but they won’t tell me…

Aug 24, 2012 12:03 PM CDT

Whataburger Files ‘Very Unusual’ Suit, Says Debt Collector Made Harassing Calls to Employee at Work

A Texas-based burger chain has sued one of the country’s largest debt collectors, contending that NCO Financial Services is hararassing an unidentified employee by making calls to the company’s San Antonio corporate headquarters despite a cease-and-desist letter. Describing the alleged calls to a toll-free number for Whataburger Restaurants as “a…

Aug 24, 2012 10:49 AM CDT

Boy Hit By Line Drive From Metal Bat During Little League Game Gets $14.5M Settlement

A $14.5 million settlement has been reached in a tort case over a Little League game that left a young pitcher brain-injured after he was struck by a line drive hit from a metal bat. As a trial was looming in the Passaic County, N.J., case, the defendants, including the…

Aug 22, 2012 5:40 PM CDT