I love reading stories where everyday people step up and set things straight.
Here's 2 from today.
W. Va. Woman Fights to Collect $10 Million from Debt Collectors
Diana Mey, of Wheeling, W. Va., won the largest judgment ever against an abusive debt collection company -- more than 10 million dollars. But she is still waiting to collect damages. In a twist of irony, a West Virginia woman is trying to collect money from a collection agency. Diana Mey, of Wheeling, W. Va., won the largest judgment ever against an abusive debt collection company -- more than $10 million.
"I'm a mom, and I'm a housewife, and I'm an accidental activist," Mey said.
From her small-town home base in Wheeling, Mey went after a debt collection empire that hounds people nationwide and won. But she still hasn't received any money.
"I don't know that I'll ever collect a dime, but if I can get their operation shut down, that would make me very happy."
Watch the full story on "Nightline" TONIGHT at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT
Two years ago, a debt collector with a company called Reliant Financial Associates, or RFA, left a message implying that her house was in jeopardy if she didn't pay a debt. The message stated:
"I'm calling in regards to a preliminary asset liability investigation. They are in the process of serving some court documents in regards to case 29369... They have some information now pending questions at the property,... Springdale Avenue, in Wheeling, West Virginia. It is in your best interests to contact the department. You are required to contact 866-764-9779."
Courtesy Diana MeyDiana Mey, of Wheeling, W. Va., won the... View Full Size Courtesy Diana MeyDiana Mey, of Wheeling, W. Va., won the largest judgment ever against an abusive debt collection company -- more than 10 million dollars. But she is still waiting to collect damages.
It is illegal for debt collectors to make empty threats about serving people with a lawsuit or seizing their home. And it was especially galling to Mey, who says she is debt-free.
"They threatened to take legal action against our property and it wasn't even our debt," Mey said.
Millions of Americans are victims of this kind of mistaken debtor identity, partly because of a new breed of collectors called "debt buyers." They purchase old debts for pennies that the original creditors have given up on and then try to collect them for a big profit. Critics say debt buyers sometimes use outrageous tactics to get the money where others have failed. RFA is a debt buyer.
Mey wrote RFA a cease and desist letter, telling the company not to contact her anymore, and sent it certified mail. Postal records show exactly when RFA signed for it. Precisely 23 minutes later, Mey started getting mysterious hang-up calls that showed up on her caller ID as coming from her local county government.
"So I called the number back and it was the sheriff's department. And I asked if someone there was trying to reach me. And they said, no - nobody there was trying to reach me," Mey said.
After two days of hang-up calls from that sheriff's department number, Mey picked up another one with that same caller ID. The man on the line repeatedly called her a vulgar name for the female anatomy. He described violent sexual acts he would like to subject her to and asked if she liked to be "gang banged."
"I was so frightened. I felt violated, but then I realized, you know, I'm taping this call,." Mey said. "I pulled myself together and I thought, I can get through this. Just keep on talking buddy because we're gonna get plenty of your voice on tape."
The verbal assault went on for nearly two minutes before the man hung up.
Mey said she immediately called 911 to report that someone had threatened to sexually assault her. She says she was terrified because she believed the call was from a local number. Mey said she then bolted the door and got her husband's gun out of the dresser and hung it on the bedpost in her bedroom.
At the time, Mey said she didn't make a connection between that call and the collectors. But then she learned the call hadn't come from the local sheriff's office after all. The caller ID had been manipulated to look like it did, a practice called spoofing. That's when she went online and discovered complaints about RFA debt collectors pretending to call from sheriff's offices, including a male collector who called women vulgar names.
"He picked the wrong person," Mey said.
You see, Diana Mey has battled big companies over intrusive phone calls before. In 1999, she won a class action lawsuit against a major telemarketer whose salesmen kept calling people, even when asked to stop. People magazine named her one of the "Most Intriguing People of the Year." That's why Mey has recorded her phone calls ever since.
Mey says it took her a year to find attorneys who would sue on her behalf. Wheeling lawyers Martin Sheehan and Patrick Cassidy took the case knowing they would probably never get paid.
"Yes, I like to make money, " Sheehan said, "but at some level there's something so atrocious you have to let people come into your office and say -- that's wrong and I'm going to do something about it."
Last May, Mey sued RFA for harassment and illegal collection practices. In August, RFA's lawyer failed to show up in court, so Mey testified unopposed. The judge called RFA's actions "malicious" and ruled that all of the allegations were true. And then he awarded that record judgment of $10,860,000.
When "Nightline" went to RFA's Orange County, Calif., office to ask about the case, it was abandoned. RFA is actually a fictitious business name for a company called Global AG, LLC. Records show it is just one of several collection companies run by the same people that often change names and move. "Nightline" also visited other offices registered to people named in Mey's suit, but employees refused to talk and asked us to leave.
RFA's lawyer later told "Nightline" that RFA made the first collection call to Mey, but denies making the second, obscene call. He said he was speaking on behalf of company principals Thai Han, Jim Phelps and Stewart Phillips.
"My clients say it is not their policy to engage in conduct that violates the law," he said. He characterized the $10 million judgment as "unfair."
As for Diana Mey, she says she knows she may never be able to collect the money, but that her lawsuit still serves a purpose.
"I hope that it sends a message to other debt collectors out there that you have to follow the law," she said. "Because if you don't, there are going to be people out there that are going to stand up against you."
This 2nd one is a video...It is WELL worth the watch
I don't think it's smaller scale, that could have a big impact on many people.
I was thinking of people who say "This is bullshit. I'm tired on accepting this crap because I'm supposed to take this watered down stance, so I don't risk offending someone." Then they go out there and make it happen.
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Setanta
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Wed 25 Apr, 2012 05:59 pm
I couldn't watch that video straight through, i had to keep pausing it, becuase it was really pissing me off . . .
Here's one. There has been alot of groping and crap on the subway in Boston lately. Here is one woman who fought back.
An intrepid 24-year-old Allston woman riding a crowded Green Line trolley literally collared a man who allegedly exposed himself — dragging him off the train and holding him until cops arrived, according to police.
The woman accused Michael Galvin, 37, of Somerville of moving closer and closer to her in the packed B-line train, making her uncomfortable.
Galvin told cops he did not know he had exposed himself until the woman yelled, “What the hell.” He claimed the “packed and jostling” Boston College-bound street car caused his pants to fall.
Galvin then said the woman followed him and said ‘you aren’t goin anywhere.” and grabbed hold of his sweatshirt and called police.
Upon arrival at Packard’s Corner, MBTA police were approached by the female victim pulling a man by his sweatshirt, telling police “This is him
83-year old Zita Staples uses her walker to beat up a guy who grabs a gold chain off of her neck.
An extra "good for you honey" to the person who wrote down the guy's license plate, leading to his arrest.
Quote:
Neighbors are glad he’s behind bars. They call Staples brave. She says she’s just stubborn.
“I just wanted to get my jewelry back. That’s all,” Staples said. “I don’t like to be taken advantage of.”
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Irishk
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Sat 28 Apr, 2012 08:11 am
@Setanta,
CNN had an update on that story this morning. The school's administrator had assured the dad and the public that "the teacher in question was no longer teaching in the district". Makes it sound as if she was fired, no? Collective sigh of relief.
Except she wasn't fired. She was merely transferred to another district where she can torture other people's kids.
Yeah, ya gotta love that. I had a similar story to tell about the first grade, but i've told it before, and the thread's not about me. We had no such "happy ending."
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Setanta
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Sat 28 Apr, 2012 08:41 am
I just saw a story on this at FB, but when i followed the link to U.S. News, i got "click-jacked" to an ad window. When i was unable to close that window, i just shut down the computer altogether to break the connection. Maybe i'll go look around later. Essentially, it was saying that a lawyer for the woman claims that the audio tapes were faked.
True story about this girl I knew in CA, her name was Lucy, pretty blond girl. Had a good job but was laid off so she took a job as a topless dancer. Well she had a DUI on her record, driving home one night an Orange County Sheriff stopped her on Laguna Canyon road, she smelled like alcohol. The sheriff said to her “what are we going to do about this?” well he had something else in mind, made her perform fellatio on him.
He stopped her several times on her way home from work. He left semen on her sweater, when she got home she put her sweater in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer then went to see a lawyer.
They settled out of court, I believe she got something like 350 grand and he was fired, turned out he also had a twin brother that was also a sheriff.
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OmSigDAVID
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Sat 28 Apr, 2012 09:13 am
Good posts, Chai
David
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OmSigDAVID
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Sat 28 Apr, 2012 09:20 am
@farmerman,
farmerman wrote:
I wear suspenders they makes my pants kinda rise and fall with the elasticity of vertical vector forces.
No biggy.
He shud have just tightened his gunbelt,
to keep everything held securely in place.
David
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Irishk
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Sat 28 Apr, 2012 09:22 am
@Setanta,
I think CNN's issue was the nuancing by the school's administrator of the resolution to the incident. The teacher was transferred to another district and continued teaching and once that was discovered and reported in the media, she was placed on leave.
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