Complaint Review: Dargon Law Firm PLLC - Internet

Kevin Hurley is THE LOWEST OF LOW and due to being fired from Mark McClure a few years back for his criminal record and rumors of seeking out Child Porn, MR. HURLEY was let go and is now placing false stories of Mr. McClure on RipOffReport.

Do NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS MAN. KEVIN HURLEY AND MATTHEW DESROCHERS LAWFIRM WILL SCAME EVERY DOLLAR YOU HAVE!!!

Mr. Hurley has an EXTENSIVE CRIMINAL PAST and a man you do NOT want to let near children!!!

Lokks like Kevin is at it again folks!!!

Lawyers who worked for a now-shuttered New Hampshire law firm that got into the mortgage modification business told of their ethical qualms in a hearing Thursday into alleged legal violations.

Assistant attorney general Karen Gorham is alleging that lawyer Dan Dargon ran “a loan modification mill,” the Concord Monitor reports. The Dargon Law Firm got into the practice last year, she said during the banking hearing, after spending $100,000 on leads that gave him mortgage information leading to potential clients.

The state banking department says Dargon's firm charged $2,500 up-front for loan modifications, but failed to obtain the necessary license, according to WMUR.com. He is accused of violating the law on 108 occasions. Dargon maintains the state banking department has no authority to regulate lawyers.

Joseph Becher testified he was the only lawyer working for Dargon until he started taking on mortgage modification clients in 2009, according to the Concord Monitor account. Soon the law firm had more than 30 employees, Becher said, and it began to "turn into a business where the primary objective was how to get clients in and out of the door as expeditiously as possible while still meeting our contractual obligations."

Becher said he quit in May because he was troubled by how Dargon was running the law firm.

Lawyer Jeffrey Merrill joined the firm in December and resigned in February, about two weeks after he heard the law firm’s head telemarketer say he wanted to get away from a “consultative sell” that focused on whether the potential client qualified for assistance. Instead the telemarketer wanted to begin more of an “emotional sell” emphasizing the "pain and anguish people feel when they get that foreclosure notice."

"That is completely unethical," Merrill said.

According to WMUR.com, Dargon maintained that many experienced lawyers stuck with his firm until it closed, and they had “absolutely no problem with the way things were run.”

Hello -

According to the Justice Department, San Joaquin Valley has been a hotbed for loan modification scams, as cities like Stockton, Modesto and Merced top the foreclosure rankings among cities nationwide.

Last week, Representative Dennis Cardoza (D-Modesto), urged Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate mortgage-reduction schemes that are being marketed to distressed homeowners throughout the Valley.

Most of these scams ask homeowners for an upfront fee in order to start a loan modification program. At best, the homeowners may end up paying for work that is completed by the group asking for the money, however, it's work that likely could have been done for free through other non-profit organizations or loan-modification assistance programs (i.e. Community Housing Council, a non-profit based in Fresno). At worst, the homeowners pay for work that isn't done at all.

Cardoza wrote to Mukasey that it was "imperative" that law enforcement authorities "crack down on these foreclosure scams quickly and comprehensively. Cardoza pointed out that San Joaquin Valley residents are particularly vulnerable because of the region's foreclosure crisis.

The scams are typically initiated over the phone or through the mail, however, the people running the scams sometimes show up at the homes they're targeting. The companies will then offer the distressed homeowner their services to renegotiate the mortgage in exchange for an up-front fee amounting to one month's mortgage payment or more.

Just last week, in Modesto, "some homeowners attended a workshop in which they were asked to pay $3,500 for getting their mortgage woes resolved," (San Jose Mercury News, 10/27/08).