Is Legal Recovery Services Inc calling you? Here’s what you need to know.
Anyone can suffer a financial setback. One day you are making regular payments towards your various financial obligations, and the next day you are laid off, injured, or become so ill that you can’t work. Once you have missed a certain number of payments, the accounts will be turned over to third-party debt collectors, who will start calling and sending letters.
Legally, third-party debt collectors are not permitted to be be intrusive and harassing when they contact you about a debt they have been assigned to collect. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA, prohibits tactics like the following:
- Calling you outside of the hours of 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. in your time zone
- Contacting you at work after you tell them that your boss won’t let you take such calls
- Pretending to be attorneys or law enforcement officials
- Threatening to sue you and seize all your assets
- Using profane and obscene language
- Demanding amounts that are inflated by “service” fees and other charges
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Alleged Violations against Legal Recovery Services Inc*
Despite these restrictions, many debt collectors use unethical tactics to get your money. Legal Recovery Services Inc is a collection agency located in Fair Oaks, California. It was established in 1988, employs 33 staff, and collects consumer debt all over the state. Records archived at the PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) website confirms that Legal Recovery Services Inc has been accused of violating the FDCPA while trying to collect consumer debts.
Patrick Aymar v. Paul R. Stassinos et al.
Beginning on December 4, 2007, California resident Patrick Aymar began getting calls from a Legal Recovery Services specialist named Alex Shore. Mr. Aymar, who was disabled, later claimed that Mr. Shore called him several times and threatened him with imminent lawsuits.
Shore also allegedly belittled, mocked, and ridiculed him. On several occasions he allegedly told Mr. Aymar that he was calling from an attorney’s office and that suggested that the debt had been incurred through criminal activity.
Mr. Ayar hired a consumer attorney and sued for Legal Recovery Services for allegedly violating the FDCPA in the following ways:
- Harassed, abusing misleading, and deceiving him in an attempt to collect an alleged debt
- Calling at an inconvenient time
- Threatening to take an action that cannot be legally taken or that was not actually intended to be taken
- Claiming to be calling from an attorney’s office
- Failing to identify themselves as debt collectors in every communication
- Failing to provide her with the required validation notices within five days of the first communication
A judge later ruled in favor of the plaintiff.
The phone number for Legal Recovery Services is 1-916-961-5612. If this number appears on your caller ID, it means that a debt collector is trying to collect a debt you allegedly owe. If they threaten you and imply that you’ve broken the law, contact a consumer attorney.
Such behavior violates the FDCPA, and if you take Legal Recovery Services to court, you could potentially win $1,000 per violation plus attorney’s fees, court costs, and any actual damages. Any debt collector that disregards the law when attempting to collect a debt from you could end up owing money to you instead.
*Case taken from PACER (www.pacer.gov). File number is 2:07-cv-02561-JAM-GGH, from United States District Court, Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division.
Disclaimer: The content of this article serves only to provide information and should not be construed as legal advice. If you file a claim against Legal Recovery Services Inc or any other third-party collection agency, you may not be entitled to any compensation.