Early this year they tried to sue me using Forsyth Law Offices. At first they filed in small claims for $2,000 then they wanted it moved because I fought the fact they wanted more from me. So then they tried to get over $3,400 and I ended up getting a judgment of dismissal from the court.

Maureen Forsyth sold her law firm to Carl A. Brugnoli and he is now suing me in civil court under the same name, Forsyth Law Offices. I have fought this already and said it was not my bill. They will not listen. Now they are suing me for $1,932.25.....Who is coming up with these figures? Also Norfolk Financial Corp. is not licensed to collect debt in Massachusetts and was told to shut down and they still haven't. On the Summons it lists a Boston address.

What should I do?

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Was this dismissed w/o prejudice?

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yes

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OK so after reviewing all my old paperwork, glad I saved it, I find that in February they say it's an Emerge/compucredit account with 18% interest. Now they are saying it is a Providian account with 29,99 % interest with $29 late fees. Well all the late fees are $35. Plus the charge off date is, if I remember, 228 days which it should be 180 days, FDIC. They gave me a copy of a Providian credit card agreement but no signature it's only partial.

Now my question...I looked over the judgment of dismissal. From what I understand they had no right to sue me AGAIN without proper notice first and giving me the chance to contest it, Am I right?????


Rule 8
RELIEF FROM JUDGMENT OR ORDER

Within one year of the date of judgment the court may, upon a party's application and after notice to the other party in such form as the court deems appropriate, vacate or grant relief from any judgment or order, including an order of dismissal under Rule 7(b), entered under these Rules for want of actual notice to a party, for error or for any other cause that the court may deem sufficient, and may supersede execution. The court may also order the repayment of any amount collected under such judgment or order, and any action by the court may be made conditional upon the performance of any reasonable condition, including any reasonable expenses incurred by the other party.

Commentary to 2001 Amendment

These amendments clarify two ambiguities in the text of Rule 8. The first makes clear that relief from judgment may not be granted on ex parte application. The form, but not the obligation, of giving notice to the other parties is meant to be discretionary with the court. The second makes clear that the court, in vacating an order of dismissal or a default judgement, may, in appropriate circumstances, award reasonable expenses such as lost wages to the other party if the party was present on the day the case was dismissed or the defendant defaulted.

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Anyone?

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Were you properly served? What state are you in? Did you ever have a card issued by Providian? Are you sure this is not a completely different suit? I'm confused by your post

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Yes I was properly served. I am in Massachusetts. I had a Providian card before 2002 with a different account number than the one they provided me and I paid that one off in 2002, it even shows on my credit report that account was in good standing.It is the same law suit, same debt collector and same attorney office only the attorney office is owned by a different person now.

I told them the last time they must have gotten my information mixed up with someone else and they fail to listen to me. I did call the court house today and they said they can sue me again Which after reviewing the laws I find hard to believe, it was dismissed by the court not the plaintiff. I will have to get to work so I can file an answer.

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OK I just finished typing up my answer and it was 3 1/2 pages worth. I am going to try and get down to the court house by the end of the week and get all documentation I sent in for the small claims suit so I can use it in this suit.

Also should I tell them that I am disabled and that I am income exempt and judgment proof or is that a waste of time? Can they still get a judgment against me if the judge does not believe what I say and sides with the debt collector without proof the account is mine? I know for a fact that this is not my account but I don't trust them, they could make up fake documents just to get paid.

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Oh yeah when they first contacted me earlier this year they sent me a printed out credit card statement, but has a lot of errors in it like it was made up. The cover letter said it was verification of the debt.

The letter DID NOT have the 30 day disclosure giving me the right to dispute the debt. Is that illegal and if so should I counter sue them? I also have about 4 other violations under the fdcpa.

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You should countersue them. I would challenge the so called 'validation' pointing out all the errors and suspicious data. Also, one statement isn't enough, unless it was a closing statement (some judges will accept the very last statement since they show the ending balance) but still, just a single statement proves nothing at all, especially if it seems to be bogus.

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Thanks, I revised my complaint and counterclaim, 4 pages worth of all the errors and everything else. I am going to mail it out tomorrow along with a request for production of documents.

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Now I play the waiting game on this. I found out at the post office that if I bring in the slip, seeing as the green card got lost in the mail, they can tell me who signed for the DV letter I sent them over 7 months ago. That would really go up their a$$ seeing as she told me she never got a letter,lol.

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ok, this time, you need to make motion for dismissal "with prejudice" to the court during the hearing. This is VERY important--last time you were able to show that they could not prove the account as yours. You were also able to show that the only providian account you ever had was paid off in full years ago. Take this same information to the hearing again, and present it to the judge--state that you have repeatedly asked for proof of the debt and they have consistently failed to provide it. Thats why you won a dismissal last time. The "with prejudice" is very important-it would deny them the ability to sue you again over the same debt.

At the same time, stipulate to the court that you request that the court forbid the plaintiff from selling the debt to some other junk debt buyer--that way, you wont end up getting sued again in two more years from some other collector on the same debt.

It also would be a good idea to bring documentation that you paid off your providian account--if you could get a letter from them stating that you paid your account in full, that would be a huge boost to your case. If you can get them to send you a letter like this, also ask them to state in there that this was the only providian account you had. That way, the CA wont have a chance.

golden mentioned countersuing--I would definitely do this. But I did find a Norfolk Financial Copr. listed in the Mass. corporations database, and they have been registered there for some years now it seems. I found two addresses in Boston for the company:

30 Rowes Wharf, Boston MA
600 Atlantic Ave. Boston, MA

is the address you have the same as one of those? Now, I dont know all the laws up there, this is only the secretary of state's corporations database. Your state may have an additional requirement that any debt collectors be registered with the banking commission or some other financial agency in order to operate in MA.....you'll have to check on that one. But they are at least registered to conduct general business in MA, unless this is a different company. That is something you need to look into before you head to court. If you find that they are still not legally operating there, you need to throw the book at them. fdcpa offenses carry a total penalty of up to $1000 in statutory damages, no matter if they break the FDCPA one time or a hundred. But I would still go after them for that. I would state the following in a countersuit:


1--list FDCPA violations in detail, including the portion of the FDCPA that addresses what they did.

2--state that they are not legally operating in MA, and were told to stop conducting business, but have ignored that and have continued to illegally operate there--state this ONLY if the company I mentioned isnt the same one as the collector thats suing you.

3--state that you are seeking actual damages due to harassment and stress--for example:

--they sued you once, and their lawsuit was frivolous, it was dismissed because they could not prove anything about their claims.
--they have repeatedly changed their story, claiming different original creditors and different amounts allegedly owed.
--they now have brought a second suit against you on the same exact debt that they have refused to provide proper validation for. This constitutes yet another frivolous lawsuit.

Also, to make sure that these guys really get a wake-up call, I would contact the bar association in your state, and file a formal complaint against this attorney's office. Bar associations tend to look kinda seriously at lawyers who make a habit of filing frivolous lawsuits and you now have this same one doing it twice to you on the same BS case. Repeated behavior like this can eventually get a lawyer disbarred. Its often taken that seriously.

Be very thorough, get everything together that you possibly can and take it all to the hearing, and prepare to slam-dunk them.

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Thanks skydivr,,,,,and yes that is the company. The owner of the company Daniel W. Goldstone was an attorney at one time and got disbarred plus his name is dirt with most of the state. Do a Google search on his name. Also search "norfolk financial corp unlicensed" and it will be the story from 2006 when they where told to shut down.

He is listing about 5 different addresses but the 2 main ones are

20 McKenna Terrace, West Roxbury, MA 02132 and 1208 VFW ParkWay suite 201 Boston MA 02132 and both are less than a mile from each other. The law firm he uses, Forsyth Law Offices, is at both of them addresses also.

I posted in my answer and counterclaim that he is unlicensed in MA to collect debt and that is is a fine of, I believe $500 or 6 months in prison or both. Maby they will see this and the court will punish him for it.

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I GO IN CONTACT WITH THEM ONCE,I ASKED THEM WHAT WAS THIS ABOUT,THEY WOULD NOT TELL ME .AFTER CALLING THEM FIVE TIMES THEY NEVER CALLED ME BACK,I RECIEVED A LETTER FROM THEM TELLING ME OF A REMINDER OF A COURT DATE,PROBLEM THEY DID NOT TELL ME WHAT COURT,ANY FEEDBACK? THANKS

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Thomas check with your county clerk to see if there is a court date and to find out when and where you were served.

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