Monday, April 5, 2010

Woman Sues Debt Collector, Wins $8.1 Million

I would love to see students find some justice for receiving harassing phone calls from Sallie Mae. From workbench:

Chrystal A. Snow challenged the validity of a $9,000 debt in a Dallas County Court-at-Law and countersued the debt collector for making improper phone calls, her attorney Ross Teter said. In a case that has received no media attention, Snow won her suit against Midland Funding LLC and the jury hearing the case awarded her $8.1 million -- $250 for actual damages, $100,000 for mental anguish and $8 million in punitive damages, he said.


"The jury made a finding she did not owe the debt," Teter said in a phone interview. "We argued that they violated the Texas Fair Debt Collection Act by making harassing phone calls and the jury agreed."


I know a lot of graduates with bad credit from taking out student loans and experiencing mental anguish from harassing phone calls and high interest rates. Where is our $8.1 million?


7 comments:

  1. Holy crap. Of course, the judge (or appellate court) will knock that punitives award down to about $8.50, but for now it sure feels good.

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  2. Even if the punitives get knocked out (and probably rightly so), I'd still gladly take 100k for the "mental anguish."

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  3. Hopefully the jurisdictional limits are high. Otherwise, she is limited to about 100K and a pack of chiclets.

    http://setexasrecord.com/news/225767-texas-sc-rules-against-plaintiff-who-filed-in-wrong-court

    Have your friends review the FDCPA, state DCPA, TCPA, and UDPA. Debt collectors violate the law all the time. And the state collections law may apply to the original creditors.

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  4. "One can do anything with a law degree - like receive harrassing phone calls from collection agencies."

    Or the following:

    http://www.drake.edu/news/db/official/archive.php?article=5155

    Yes, you too can attend an overpriced third-tier, fifth-rate piece of trash law school and be elected to the prestigious Des Moines City Council. Tell others about this TTT. I mean, look what the school does for people's careers.

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  5. Chrystal A. Snow, my hero!!

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  6. This story made my morning! Justice!

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  7. I sued for getting third party calls and won , I suggest everyone get familiar with the law. I welcome the idiots to call me now. I keep my number listed.

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