Law Firm Sued By Massachusetts Attorney General
Is this firm operating in the wild, wild, West?
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey filed a lawsuit this week against Lustig, Glaser & Wilson PC, a Massachusetts firm. The AG’s complaint against them alleges they preyed on the poorest residents as part of an illegal debt collection scheme.
The Boston Globe reports the firm filed ~100,000 lawsuits against debtors and collected more than $110 million, but the firm — whose website bills them as “[t]he leading debt collections law firm in Massachusetts” — allegedly used questionable techniques to notch those achievements:
The firm relied on an automated system to identify cases to bring to court, often with little review, and in many instances collected debts based on inaccurate or incomplete information, according to the complaint.
“The company used the judicial system to intimidate and harass people,” Healey said in a statement. “This firm and its owners took advantage of thousands of Massachusetts consumers by demanding money they had no right to collect and on the basis of debts they could not prove.”
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What’s more, the firm may not be alone in its shenanigans:
Roger Bertling, director of the Consumer Protection Clinic at Harvard Law School, said that the practices alleged by Healey and the consumer protection agency are fairly common.
“Debt-collection work is still the wild, wild West,” he said. “The system is built on volume and getting in and getting out very quickly.”
The firm’s attorney, Mark Smith, said they “look forward to being vindicated in court,” but it isn’t the first dustup the firm has gotten into with authorities. Earlier this year, the Massachusetts Division of Banks informed the firm it needed a debt collector’s license. The firm disagrees with this ruling and responded by filing a complaint that the agency overstepped its authority.
Healey sues Waltham law firm over debt-collection practices [Boston Globe]
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