Jury in LA Awards Consumer $100,000, Collector Violations

Jury Awards Consumer $100,000 in Case Against Collection Agency

On May 4, 2007, a unanimous federal jury in Los Angeles, California ordered debt collector Arrow Financial Services to pay Laura Nelson $100,000.00 for a multi-year pattern of unfair debt collection and false credit reporting practices.

Following a three-day civil jury trial, a Los Angeles jury unanimously ordered debt collector Arrow Financial Services to pay Laura Nelson a total sum of $100,000.00 for false credit reporting and unfair debt collection practices. The jury awarded Ms. Nelson $85,000.00 for her emotional distress and mental anguish, and also added a $15,000.00 penalty against Arrow for its repeated violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Laura Nelson v. Arrow Financial Services, LLC, United States District Court Case No. CV06-1568 RGK (PLAx).

The account reported to Ms. Nelson's credit reports was false from the start, as Ms. Nelson never owed the alleged debt. The false reporting of the account began in 2001 and Ms. Nelson had previously disputed the account numerous times to Arrow, to the three major credit bureaus and also to Direct Merchants, the supposed original creditor on the account. Direct Merchants even wrote to Arrow to advise them not to report the account.

Ms. Nelson previously sued Arrow in 2003 over the account, and part of the settlement of that case included a permanent removal from her credit reports. However, literally as she was signing the settlement agreement from the previous lawsuit, Arrow began re-reporting the account to Equifax, one of the "big three" credit bureaus, using a different account number. When Ms. Nelson later disputed the account's re-appearance to Equifax, Equifax could not locate the account because it had been re-reported with a different account number. Ms. Nelson then brought the lawsuit.

Ms. Nelson was represented in the case by Robert F. Brennan, Esq. of Brennan, Wiener & Associates in La Crescenta, Ca.

"Arrow subjected Ms. Nelson to five years of false credit reporting, and insisted until the very end that it had done nothing wrong," stated Brennan. "What was most upsetting was the fact that Arrow had kept the account in its system, adding interest to it and continuing to credit-report it, all the while knowing it was a completely fraudulent account. I certainly hope Arrow re-evaluates some of its business practices in the wake of this verdict."

Mr. Brennan also expressed his characteristic dismay at the way in which the debt collectors and large creditors are becoming the new slave masters in our culture. "America no longer creates any new products. All it creates any more is debt. The key product of our economy is debt, plain and simple, and the debt collectors and major banks use debt to control, and destroy, our entire lives. I'm picking up more and more discontent from consumers because of this debt-driven economy and how we're all hamsters in hamster-wheels working our tails off just to pay interest to debt collectors and big banks. One day, it's all gonna break and it just might be a good thing when it does."