Helping Consumers make great decisions to solve their Debt Problems

We help with all consumer issues, including:

Credit Card Lawsuits

If you are facing a Credit Card or Collection Agency lawsuit, we can help. We defend dozens of these every month in the Court of Common Pleas and at the local District Justice/Magistrate courts. These cases, when initially filed, are almost always defective. We hold debt collectors’ feet to the fire and force them to prove every last detail of your claim. In almost every instance, they are unable to do that – resulting in a victory for our clients.

If the claim is filed by a Junk Debt Buyer, our typical response is to defend, defend, defend. We are able to defeat these claims almost every time. There are few circumstances where someone should pay a settlement to a junk debt buyer. If it’s in your best interest, either legally or from a cost-benefit analysis, then we can negotiate settlements on these claims as well.

If the claim is filed by an original creditor, then there are a few avenues to take. Defending is one option and settling is another option. We look at each case in detailed fashion to determine the best course of action for our clients. Factors that can affect whether to defend or settle an original creditor case include the amount of the claim, the credit card company involved, the court in which the claim is filed, and the attorney/law firm who is representing that company. We deal with these claims every day and we know all of the collectors so we can assess what your best move might be in an initial consultation (which can be performed over the phone for most clients). If you are facing a Frozen Bank Account please read this page for more information.

Debt Collector Harassment / FDCPA Claims

It often starts with a phone call or a letter. The man who is calling you tells you that you owe a debt to Midland Credit Management or Portfolio Recovery Associates or some other junk debt buyer. You have no idea who these companies even are, and you get scared. When you ask for information, they tell you to pay right now or there will be trouble. You get even more scared. When you hesitate, they threaten to garnish your wages or have you charged with fraud or they tell you that a constable will be there by 5 p.m. to serve you with papers. This is the crux of debt collector harassment. These calls, like the one I just described, happen every day and they are illegal.

If you’re smart, and you must be because you were smart enough to find this website, you will call a consumer attorney and have a consultation immediately. These threats like the ones mentioned above are a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The FDCPA is a law that protects consumers (people like you and me) who are harassed by these debt collectors and junk debt buyers. The law says that you are entitled to bring a claim against the collector and that you are entitled to up to $1000 in what are called “statutory damages”. (this means that they violated the law so they pay a penalty, basically). Under the FDCPA, you are also entitled to reasonable attorney fees. That is the real strength in the law. The debt collector must pay your legal fees. Think about that….they pay us to sue them. It’s a powerful law that protects consumers from unscrupulous debt collectors. We use this law every single day at our firm to protect our clients and to right wrongs that have been committed. In most cases, our clients never have to see the inside of a courtroom. Debt collectors know that when we file Fair Debt Collection Violation claims, our claims are good. They often realize that there is no sense in fighting a losing battle.

If you’ve been threatened with wage garnishment, harassed, abused or treated unfairly by a Debt Collector, we can help.  If they’ve contacted family, friends, neighbors or employers about your debt, we can help. If they are pursuing you for more than you owe, we can help. Remember, there are no out of pocket costs or fees to pursue any claims against a debt collector.

Lemon Law for Vehicles

We handle many defective vehicle claims, both New and Used vehicles. If you have purchased a new car that is defective, then the Pennsylvania Lemon Law is the way to go. It’s a fairly strong law that allows you to bring a claim against the manufacturer (PA Lemon Law is NOT applicable to dealers or used cars). If your car/truck/SUV has a defect that has occurred on 3 or more occasions, or, if it has been in the repair shop for 30 days or more (cumulative, not necessarily consecutive), then you might be ripe to bring a lemon law claim. There are other qualifiers, namely that the vehicle problems must be reported at least once in the first year or first 12,000 miles and the vehicle must be a personal use vehicle registered in Pennsylvania. The law provides that the manufacturer must replace the vehicle, re-purchase the vehicle, or provide cash compensation, and it also provides for recovery of legal fees. This means that any claim that is filed under the lemon law is essentially free….that is, no money out of your pocket.

Another law that we have used frequently is the New Motor Vehicle Damage Act. This law applies to dealers who sell you a “New” vehicle that has prior damage that they failed to disclose. This most often occurs when the dealer gets a new vehicle from the manufacturer and then it suffers damage while on the dealer’s lot or when the dealer “trades” into a specific vehicle before selling it to you. If the damage is more than $500 or 3% of the purchase price (whichever is greater) then you might have a strong claim under the Act.

If you have purchased a slightly used vehicle that still has manufacturer’s warranty left and you encounter a defect or problem, then you still can bring a claim against the manufacturer under a federal law called the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act. This law is similar to the lemon law but it does not have the age or mileage restrictions. That is, the Mag Moss Act applies to new and used vehicles, there is no mileage restriction and it still provides for recovery of attorney fees. This law applies to any vehicle that has a written warranty.

If you purchased an older vehicle that doesn’t have any manufacturer warranty left, then there are other laws that may benefit you, but they might not be quite as strong as the Lemon Law or the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act. Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law can apply to many vehicle cases, and there are other laws that cover things like: failure to disclose that the vehicle was a rental…failure to disclose that the vehicle was in a flood, or had frame damage, or had serious transmission problems, or was a lemon. Certain cases may also result in an auto fraud claim against the selling dealer where they mislead you about the condition, mileage or prior use of the vehicle.

Experience Counts

We handle Consumer Law matters 24/7/365, meaning every day, all day, all year long. It’s what we do, it’s our passion. Our attorneys have over 25 years of consumer law experience. Whether its defending a debt buyer lawsuit, negotiating a settlement, handling a lemon law claim, fixing a credit report issue, or suing a debt collector for violating debt collection or telephone laws, we love our jobs and we’re pretty good at them. How do we know this? Results and Referrals. As far as the results go, we’ll match our record up with anyone. We defend between 25 to 30 credit card cases each month. We lose 3-5 of them, per year. We file FDCPA claims against debt collectors and frankly, they rarely want to battle with us in court. We win, and we win big, because we take these cases just as personal as you do. A loss is like a gut punch to us, we don’t accept defeat on our cases. As far as referrals, we are the go to firm for many attorneys who have clients with consumer law matters that they just cannot handle. Attorneys in the Pittsburgh area and beyond have been referring consumer cases to us for years because they want to make sure that their clients’ rights and interests are protected.

Our firm has also been at the forefront of establishing precedence in the courts of this Commonwealth. Clay Morrow was the lead attorney on the most widely cited credit card case in Pennsylvania, Worldwide Asset v. Stern (Attorney Morrow handled the companion case). In Worldwide, renowned Judge R. Stanton Wettick authored an opinion that changed the way that debt collection cases were handled. After argument from Attorney Morrow, the court ruled that the debt buyers needed to produce a litany of evidence in all credit card collection cases or else they would not be able to proceed to trial. The Worldwide case is cited in Common Pleas and Magistrate Courts across Pennsylvania.

The firm has obtained other notable decisions regarding defective notices (Arrow v. Hairston), Illegal requests for attorney fees by debt buyers (Daniels v. Davis) and standards of evidence required in student loan debt buyer cases (NCT v. Vargo). These cases are cited by Judges and Attorneys in many courts here in PA.

I first got in touch with Greg about a year ago regarding a claim by a debt buyer. He took care of everything within days. He explained my rights, what could happen from where we were in the situation and was very specific and accurate. He followed up with me recently to close up a claim and the experience has been the same – efficient, accurate and professional. I’d recommend him to anyone who needs help with consumer debt. – Annick

There is an abundance of information on this site, which is designed specifically to ease your mind and let you know that help is out there, that you are not lost, alone, and without hope. On credit card lawsuits, debt collector harassment, credit report problems and vehicle cases, we always offer a free, no obligation case review. We are based in Pittsburgh, but we can handle cases throughout most of western Pennsylvania. Call or email today to find out if we can help. We will treat you with dignity and respect.