Saturday, February 05, 2005
Creditwrench, the FDCPA, and the law Part IV
I again pointed out to CREDITWRENCH CEO Bill Bauer, that in a successful FDCPA action, the plantiff's attorney fees have to be paid by the collector/collection agency; it's mandatory.
For his position against mine, he cited the case of VELASQUEZ v MIDWEST BILLING SERVICES. The problem with his case cite is it was overturned on appeal.
On appeal, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals made the following comment:
"This court has held previously that the award of attorney's fees to plaintiffs for a debt collector's violation of "any provision" of the FDCPA is mandatory. The plaintiffs have brought a "successful action" under the FDCPA and thus are entitled to a "reasonable attorney's fee."
As you can plainly read, CREDITWRENCH CEO Bill Bauer's position of your having to pay attorney fees in a successful FDCPA is false and misleading.
Not only that, he quotes invalid case law to support his erroneous position. Because, according to him, he does not subscribe to any reporting service that would allow him up-to-date access to the latest court decisions. Instead he depends on what he finds on the internet. Unfortunately for anyone depending on his advice, cases published on the internet are not necessarily the most current. As was clearly the case of the overturned decision he cited to support his aforementioned position on attorney fees in FDCPA litigation.
