It happened to them
These are not our clients. They are people and cases on the public record: court opinions, agency orders, jury verdicts. We tell each one the way it happened, then explain the law it turned on and what the court or agency did. Read them to recognize what is happening to you, and to see what the law can and cannot do about it.
Every story on this page is a public record
The people, the facts, the amounts and the outcomes come from court records, government orders and announcements, and reporting, cited at the end of each story. None of them was represented by Usher Law Group. None of these outcomes is a promise about any other case. We publish no results of our own.
Sykes v. Mel S. Harris: judgments against people who were never served
Tens of thousands of New York collection suits, papers never served, and a $59 million class settlement in 2015.
Sixteen cases: New York, New Jersey and Florida first, then the national rulings
The Circles collectors: threats of arrest, and calls to everyone you know
Threats of jail, calls to family and bosses, and a 2022 ban plus $4 million in civil penalties.
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Medley v. DISH Network: the company kept calling after her lawyer said stop
A Florida creditor kept calling after a lawyer's letter. The jury awarded $225,000 in punitive damages.
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TransUnion v. Ramirez: a name match on a terrorist list
A name-only match to a terrorist list, a $60 million class verdict, and a 2021 Supreme Court ruling on who can sue.
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Miller v. Equifax: two years of disputes over someone else's credit
A merged credit file, two years of disputes, and an $18.6 million verdict the judge reduced to $1.8 million.
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Rotkiske v. Klemm: the lawsuit he never saw, and the clock that kept running
Served at an old address, found out five years later, and a 2019 Supreme Court ruling on the one-year clock.
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Heintz v. Jenkins: the lawyer's letter was a debt collector's letter
A lawyer's letter, a $4,173 insurance charge, and the 1995 ruling that collection lawyers must follow the FDCPA.
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Encore and PRA: the orders, and the orders they broke
Robo-signed affidavits and suits on old debts: 2015 orders, and new penalties in 2020 and 2023 for breaking them.
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The New York Attorney General and the debt buyers who sued on expired debts
Four debt buyers, lawsuits on expired debts, and more than 7,500 New York judgments vacated in 2014 and 2015.
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FTC v. Federal Check Processing: the fraud division that was a collection agency
A Buffalo collection ring posed as a fraud unit and threatened arrest. The court ordered $10.8 million disgorged.
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Tatis v. Allied Interstate: a settlement offer on a debt too old to sue on
A settlement offer on an old New Jersey gym debt, and the 2018 Third Circuit ruling that the word could mislead.
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Goodin v. Bank of America: the payments were in the court registry the whole time
A Florida couple's payments sat in a court account while their servicer sued to foreclose. The award: $204,000.
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FTC and CFPB v. TransUnion Rental Screening: evictions that looked worse than they were
Duplicate, dismissed and sealed evictions on tenant reports, and a $15 million federal settlement in 2023.
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Jerman v. Carlisle: misreading the law is not a bona fide error
A foreclosure on a paid-off loan, and the 2010 ruling that misreading the FDCPA is no bona fide error.
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Facebook v. Duguid: the texts he never asked for, and the autodialer rule
Unwanted login texts, a narrower autodialer rule in 2021, and why prerecorded collection calls are still covered.
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Midland Funding v. Johnson: an obviously stale claim in a Chapter 13 case
A ten-year-old debt filed in a Chapter 13 case, and the 2017 ruling that it did not violate the FDCPA.
Read →What these cases have in common
Read them together and a few patterns repeat. Papers that never reached the person being sued. Sworn statements signed without anyone checking. Calls that did not stop after a lawyer's letter. A credit file that stayed wrong through dispute after dispute. A clock that ran out before the person knew there was anything to sue about.
Each of those has a rule. The violation checker matches what happened to you against the rules, and the deadlines page tells you how long you have. If you want to see amounts, the public verdicts and settlements page lists them with the source for each, and a warning that none of them predicts yours.
The same laws are open to you
Each story ends with what it means for you now. The violations pages explain each rule a collector can break, the credit report pages cover the bureaus, and what you get explains the damages each law allows and who pays the lawyer.
Tell us what they did.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which laws the collector or the credit bureau broke, which deadline runs first, and what to save this week. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510The FDCPA and the FCRA require a company found liable to pay the consumer’s reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. Our fee arrangement is confirmed in a written retainer before we begin. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language.