Complaint Review: Daniel N. Gordon P.C Attorneys And Counselors At Law - Eugene Oregon

Sounds good to me! Once a court has dismissed a case twice, it can be pretty difficult to successfully prosecute it on the third try. You were smart enough to recognize this and use it as leverage. Good job!

I've represented debtors for four years, primarily in bankruptcy litigation matters, but I've also done several FDCPA and FCRA claims.

If people would consistently enforce their rights under the law, collection agencies would effectively be shut down. They would be buried in validation requests, stimied by cease and desist orders, and gouged by legal damages.

But the biggest hit of all would come in the form of debtors who actually defend themselves in court. Right now, collection agencies boast a HUGE default judgment rate. So they don't really expend all that much in legal fees, in the aggregate, when they decide to sue. In my early days of practicing law, I was getting paid $50 a case to file an appearance and complaint for collection agencies. Then, the 90% of the time where the debtor failed to answer the complaint or show up for court, I would get another $25 to file a motion for default judgment.

So the vast majority of the time, the agencies that contracted with me were receiving judgments for $75 plus filing fees. If the debtor did file answer or effectively defend themselves at the initial hearing (which doesn't take much), the cases would be referred to a big firm and the cost to the collection agency would skyrocket.

So right now the collection agencies are profitable, but that could definitely be changed. But I've always failed to see how they make economic sense per the original creditor. Even if the debtor pays up, the creditor is still losing, on the average, at least 50% of its claim. Plus, an original creditor is not bound by the FDCPA and can do quite a bit more to collect on its debt than the collection agency. Original creditors are also statistically more likely to actually collect on their debts. 

So I don't even know why companies use collection agencies rather than doing their collections in-house. The only things I can think of are that they think the collection agencies are experts at squeezing money out of people, or that the creditors don't want the ill-will that comes with collections.

So there's my diatribe. While compiling your "debtor's manual to shutting down the collection agencies" consider this little trick I discovered: the libel claim!

This is how it works. Libel generally consists of a false statement made with knowledge of the fact that it is false or a "reckless disregard for the truth." So say a collection agency reports an erroneous or inflated debt to a credit reporting agency. The debtor disputes the debt with the collection agency and the CRA, providing as much evidence as possible showing that the debt is wrong.

So now the collection agency and the CRA have evidence showing that the debt as reported is incorrect. If they do nothing to fix the matter, then the publishing of the erroneous debt in a credit report could constitute a "false statement made with reckless disregard for the truth" and the debtor now has a possible libel claim (in addition to the FDCPA and FCRA claims) against the collection agency, the credit reporting agency, and possibly the original creditor.

Something for you to think about. Best of luck!

Thanks for the comment. As you said you were an attorney, I am definitely appreciative of your reading and responding to my complaint here.

More Update: I don't know why I didn't post this here sooner, just been busy I guess...but not only did I win this case with Daniel N Gordon PC...lol, I ALSO won against the huge downtown attorney firm that it was transferred to! Yes, another win.

In a nut shell, they tried to intimidate me at first, however, as I've dealt with collection agencies and their collection attorneys for over 15 years, I wasn't bothered by it. It was more of an annoyance than anything else. Yes, they tried the paperwork route, but I buried THEM in paperwork, as they also needed to DEFEND Gordon's actions...lol.

Finally, a few days before this went to court again, they called me to settle. They wanted ME to pay THEM $3,000. I told them no. It kind of helped that I filed a large answer to their complaint that counter sued their client and Gordon. lol. I told them that I would settle by not paying a dime on this matter, we would each pay our own legal fees or court costs (mine were just court fees), and this would be put in writing to NEVER surface again. They told me they had to refer to their client, CACH, LLC (Collect America), and that they probably wouldn't take the offer. About 10 minutes later the attorney called back and said it was a deal.

Not only did I not have to pay those morons at CACH, LLC, but I also put a  final stop to the situation with the courts, got it in writing, signed a release and made them put in writing to remove the entries from my credit bureau files (all three!)

This issue went on for so long that I started doing a lot of legal research and got a legal coach for a while to try and combat these types of collection practices. Now, after all this time, I've developed a program that is 100% rock solid at not only stopping harassing collection agencies, but working to shut them down as well. Now, I'm working on selling this system to the general public. It's about time there was affordable help for people without the need for bankruptcy as the ultimate answer.

I don't advocate NOT PAYING your bills, but rather ONLY working with your original creditor to pay your debt. Part of my program involves marketing these more friendly options to consumers and those who give credit. My plan, my ultimate goal? To shut down collection agencies for good. There truly is NO need for them, especially those "junk debt" buyers that are really collection agencies.

Again, I appreciate your comments. I won't put the name of my program on here as this site doesn't allow such names or businesses to be put in these comments. However, you WILL hear of my program soon as it's about to be a nation-wide marketing blitz. ;)

I just have to chime in because this tale of ineptitude is so comical.

So this attorney files an amended complaint because the first complaint was SO wrong that the court dismissed it on its own initiative, which virtually NEVER happens. Then, I'm assuming the OP failed to answer the amended complaint in the time allowed (usually 21 days from the time of service).

This would permit the attorney to receive a default judgment. But it looks like he wasn't paying attention, and let the case sit idle for so long that the court dismissed it for "lack of prosecution."

Then he tries to re-open the case so that he can get his default judgment! So, basically, HE waited too long to do anything and ended up losing his case, then he STILL tried to get a default judgment against the OP for waiting too long to file an answer!

I'm sure his reputation in front of that judge is pretty well shot at this point.

Laypersons may not see the comedy in this, but as an attorney I find this pretty funny.

Congrats on beating this case!

Glad to hear you won against this clown, Here is another suggestion for you, not sure if you thought of it or not, but you might want to file a complaint against this person with the Oregon Bar Association.

Yes, I won against this "attorney." He finally had to give up and send his client's account to another firm in Portland. Even with them, after a short time, I got this case dismissed with prejudice, which means it can NEVER be brought against me again. It's over! Yes, they tried burring me in paperwork, but I did my homework and have dealt with scoundrel attorneys like these before. Keep up, keep it right and never give up...that's the best advice I can give anyone here...along with going to budhibbs.com and getting the same free information I did with how to deal with such people as Mr. Gordon.