From the Third Circuit’s opinion today:
J.P. Ward & Associates is a debt-defense law firm that handles many [FDCPA] §1692e(8) claims. To “scal[e]” up its practice and get more fees, named partner Joshua Ward and lawyer Travis Gordon hatched a scheme. If a client approached the firm to dispute a debt, the firm would get his permission to send the creditor a handwritten letter supposedly signed by the client himself.
Each “client letter” used the same template. Most of it was gibberish, alluding to “confusing times,” lamenting how “difficult [it was] for [the writer] to stay on top of everything,” and complaining that someone was trying to sell the writer a “crazy XR 65A80K thing” (presumably a TV).
Nestled amid this nonsense, the form letter obliquely referred to disputing a potential debt: “I saw that your company is reporting that I owe you a sum of money, but I just don’t think that is correct.” The firm would then sign the client’s name and send the disorienting letter to his creditor. If the creditor or the debt collector who bought the debt did not then mark the debt as disputed, the firm would sue.
Copies of such letters are attached to the Third Circuit’s opinions
A debt collector removed two of these suits to federal district court, which held an evidentiary hearing in which the lawyers explained their practice. The district court dismissed the actions pursuant to Rule 11, awarded fees and costs to the debt collector, and “ordered the lawyers to write apology
letters and attach the court’s sanction order to future debt dispute cases filed in the district.”
The lawyers appealed, and the Third Circuit unanimously affirmed-using strong language:
Actions have consequences. Gordon and Ward used their clients to bring contrived lawsuits and make easy money. Even after the District Court sanctioned them and their firm, they still refuse to admit that they lied. Instead, they deflect blame, gesturing at “mistakes” and “imprecise drafting” to avoid accountability. We expect more from members of the bar, and we will affirm the sanctions.
