HOFER LAW FILES OPEN RECORDS COMPLAINT AGAINST LOCAL SMALL CLAIMS COURT

Today I filed  an official Access to Public Records Act complaint against the Wayne Township Small Claims Court in Indianapolis. I don't do this lightly. Twenty years ago, I filed a complaint against a judge who was letting collection lawyer run the court, and although the judge was reprimanded, I was effectively blacklisted from all the Small Claims Courts.  I filed the complaint because I intend to continue to investigate patterns of filing collection cases in the small claims courts, and I can't afford to go to each court twice, once just to get turned down and the second time to get the information after convincing the court staff that the open records act applies.   My complaint is below.

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Consumer Law Office of Steve Hofer

3750 Guion Road, Suite 190

Indianapolis IN 46222

317-662-4LAW                                                                                                                  www.hoferlawindy.com

317-662-4529                                                                                                                                 hoferlawindy@gmail.com

                                                                                                             

August 21, 2014                                                Via Mail and Fax 317-233-3091

Luke Britt

Indiana Public Access Counselor

W470 Indiana Government Center South

402 West Washington Street

Indianapolis IN 46204

              OFFICIAL OPEN RECORDS COMPLAINT

                                              Agency: Wayne Township (Marion County) Small Claims Court

                                              5401 West Washington Street, Indianapolis IN 46241

                                              Date of Request/Agency Denied Access: August 4, 2014

Dear Counselor Britt:

I am hereby making a complaint of denied access under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act.  The agency in question is the Wayne Township Small Claims Court in Indianapolis.  On Monday, August 4, 2014, during regular business hours, between 2:30 and 3:00 PM; I went to the Wayne Township Small Claims Court for the purposes of reviewing a selection of recent cases filed by bad debt buyers.  The abuse of the court system by bad debt buyers is a matter of public concern.  For context see: The One Hundred Billion Dollar Problem in Small Claims Court: Robo-Signing and Lack of Proof, Peter A. Holland, published in Journal of Business & Technology Law, Vol. 6, p. 259, 2011 and online at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1875727. See also the New York Times Magazine feature story Paper Boys: Inside the Dark, Labyrinth, and Extremely Lucrative World of Consumer  Debt Collection,  Jake Halpern, http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/15/magazine/bad-paper-debt-collector.html?_r=0. 

At the Wayne Township Court, I was allowed to use the public access terminal to identify a selection of recent cases. I copied down some case numbers, approximately 20, and asked to see the files that went with the case numbers.  The attendant said that I was not allowed to see the files, that they were not public. The only public information was the information on the terminal. I told the attendant that she is mistaken, these are public records that are readily accessed by collection attorneys on a daily basis.  On that same day I had inspected files without incident at Pike Township Small Claims Court. The attendant told me that I would have to take it up with the supervisor who was not in, and would not be available until tomorrow. She would not give me the full name of the supervisor. I offered to make a written request, but I was rebuffed. 

I believe it is the responsibility of the agency to have persons trained in compliance with the act on duty during all regular business hours regardless of the presence or absence of any given supervisor.  I believe my treatment at this court conveys an image that the court’s policy is to be friendly to debt collectors but not to persons who want to police the conduct of debt collectors.

Finally, I would have made an informal request for an opinion by the counselor if it were not for a disturbing fact that I found out later.  In the MYCASE online record system, the defendants’ names are missing from the online records of a number of collection cases filed in Wayne and Lawrence Townships after 8/11/2014.   (See enclosed documentation.) If researchers aren't even able to get defendant names from the online system; it will be impossible to uncover problems with debt collectors misusing the court system[1].

Sincerely,

Steven R. Hofer

Attorney at Law

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The MYCASE documents that I attached included lawsuits filed by:

Credit Acceptance Corporation

LVNV Funding LLC

Convergence Receivables LC

Calvary SPV 1 LLC

MSW Capital LLC

Second Round LP

Credit Acceptance Corporation

NCEP, LLC

Jefferson Capital Systems, LLC

Enclosures – Mycase records

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[1] The Mycase sheets are included for illustration only. Because for this purpose the names of the defendants are irrelevant, I have partially redacted those that are included.  

  Co

New York Times - Inside the Criminial Underworld of the Debt Collection Industry

Last week's New York Times Sunday magazine had a feature story detailing the criminal underworld network behind the bottom feeder debt collection industry.  The article, by Jake Halpern,  titled Paperboys: Inside the Dark Lucrative World of Consumer Debt Collection explains how the industry uses lies and pressure to make huge profits by paying 1% of the face amount of the debt and collecting 100% through intimidation and unfair collection lawsuits.

Inside the Dark, Lucrative World of Consumer Debt Collection

 

When the collectors go to court, no matter how many times the debt has been assigned, the collector maintains that the debt is absolutely legitimate and absolutely owned by the agency collecting it.  This is often a fallacy.   The debts are sometimes sold to multiple parties, each trying to collect; and sometimes unauthorized people get a hold of the accounts list and start outlaw collection.  That's why individuals and the courts must insist on strict accounting for proceeds and ownership of the accounts.   They aren't doing it right now.

John Oliver Takes on the Payday Loan Industry

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Wusik Rocks

This post has nothing to do with law but does have to do with customer service.  I want to give a shout out and hearty thanks to William K.,  proprietor of Wusik.com for going above and beyond the call of duty in helping me with a software installation issue.  If you are looking for music software that is powerful, affordable and always interesting, check out Wusik.  

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Hidden Fees in the Indianapolis Bike Sharing Program

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The Affidavit From Hell

I've been spending a lot of time working on issues regarding assigned debts.  When bottom feeder collection agencies sue on these accounts, they rely on affidavits from employees who are allegedly knowledgeable about the status of the accounts. Here is an affidavit that was filed in court by the law firm of Bowman Heintz Bocia and Vician, P.C.  from Merrillville, Indiana.

The affiant, Jennifer Bernard, states that she is an employee of "AMER. ACC CO LLC AS ASSIGN OF ALL DEBT AS ASSIGN OF PEPPERTREE AS ASSIGN OF PMD FINANCIAL AS ASSIGN OF ASSET RECOVERY AS ASSIGN OF AARON'S SALES, plaintiff or servicing agent of the plaintiff."  If her paycheck is drawn on that company name, I'd be surprised if there is any space left over for the dollar amount of her take-home pay.

Next the affiant has to swear that she is familiar with the books and records, and here is where this person amazes me with her knowledge. "I am familiar with the record keeping practices of AMER. ACC CO LLC AS ASSIGN OF ALL DEBT AS ASSIGN OF PEPPERTREE AS ASSIGN OF PMD FINANCIAL AS ASSIGN OF ASSET RECOVERY AS ASSIGN OF AARON'S SALES's business and/or have personal knowledge of the following:"  It is incredible that one person is familiar with the books and records of not just AMER ACC CO LLC but also ALL DEBT and also PEPPERTREE and also PMD FINANCIAL and also ASSET RECOVERY and also AARON's SALES.  A person this knowledgeable about the accounting systems of many companies should be writing accounting books, not signing affidavits.

Affidavits like these are ridiculous on their face, but collection companies are taking these things to court every day in the thousands, and courts are issuing default judgments on these cases almost as fast.  Look at this case as an example. At each step in the chain of this debt there were opportunities to make mistakes in he documentation of the amounts owed, the amounts paid and the status of the assignment. If there was ever a valid debt in this case, six companies have in theory had the opportunity to collect payments on this account and six companies have had the opportunity to collect money on this account.  Actually, six companies have had the opportunity to make this account up out of thin air.

What is the relationship between American Acceptance Co. LLC. and the law firm of Bowman Heintz Bocia and Vician? American Acceptance's registered agent, Glenn Vician, is a named partner in the law firm doing the collection.  How close are the companies physically?  It looks like a six minute walk if you go the long way.