Fraud – Page 2

Alabama Supreme Court Continues to Harm Working People for the Benefit of Wealthy Corporations – Alabama Consumer Rights Advocate Judson E. Crump

March 4, 2017 by Attorney Judson E Crump 1 Comment

The Alabama Supreme Court Hates Working People and Loves Big Corporations. Here’s Yet Another Example.

On June 26, 2015, the Alabama Supreme Court issued a decision in the case of American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida v. Gladys Tellis. Now, for those of us who have been living for a while under the extreme anti-consumer regime of the current Alabama Supreme Court, the outcome of such a case can be predicted just by its name. American Bankers Insurance Company (a huge and rich insurance company) against a lady named Gladys Tellis (an ordinary woman seeking justice after she’d been defrauded). Whenever a big company is sued by a worker or consumer or anyone who isn’t also a big powerful corporation, the Alabama Supreme Court, whose 9 Republican Justices were elected with millions of campaign dollars paid for by those very banks and insurance companies, is almost certain to find a way to rule against the working man. So this case was no exception: they handed down a decision that dealt yet another blow to regular people seeking justice.

In this case, the issue before the Court was whether the insurance company could enforce a mandatory arbitration agreement against the Plaintiffs in that case. Normally, arbitration agreements are enforced due to a federal law called the Federal Arbitration Act, which since a major US Supreme Court misreading of that statute in 1995, has basically been applied to every contract in the United States. Note here that though I’m complaining in this article about the extreme pro-corporation bias of the Republican Alabama Supreme Court, in the Allied Bruce Terminix case of 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court’s anti-consumer decision was a 7-2 decision, where the only justices who rightfully dissented were the most conservative members of the Court: Scalia and Thomas -both Republican appointees. So don’t think for a minute that I’m just against Republican judes. I’m not. I’m against judges who are biased against workers, the poor, and those who have been done wrong by the rich and the powerful

So enforcing mandatory arbitration agreements, no matter how Rumplestiltskinian they may be, is commonplace in the United States. Why does this matter? Because arbitration is a grossly unfair proceeding that deprives people of many, many rights that they are supposed to be guaranteed by the Constitution: the right to join together with other people in lawsuits (not just in class actions, but even cases where a handful of friends have been screwed in the same way by the same company), the right to a trial by jury, the right to obtain evidence in their favor that is held by the other side, and, most importantly, the right to appeal a decision that is flat-out wrong.

But in this case, the Plaintiffs had a solid defense to the arbitration agreement in question: they never signed it.

Now anybody with common sense can understand the issue: if you don’t sign it, it isn’t binding. That’s the normal rule. Certainly the opposite rule applies: if you sign a contract, it is binding, right? And of course, the latter rule has always been enforced by our courts. And what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, right?

Not in Alabama.

Somehow, the Alabama Supreme Court found a way around the common sense rule that only contracts you actually agree to can be held against you. They said that by paying premiums, the insurance company’s customers implicitly consented to the arbitration agreement. This is crazy. The only explanation, of course, is that these judges were just looking for any excuse to help out their corporate sponsors, and they did so at the expense of all of Alabama’s citizens.

This is what happens when we allow our highest court to be sold to the highest bidder. It is literally justice for sale. That is a very evil phenomenon, and the worst part of it is this: our voters don’t care. Because this is a conservative state, and the millions of dollars of insurance company money floods our televisions, radios, billboards, and emails with false messages that if we don’t elect these extreme Republican justices, then our state will descend into crime and chaos.

Until people start caring about protecting their rights, this is going to continue. We are going to keep losing, and our citizens are going to continue to be screwed by big out-of-state companies that don’t care about Alabama.

Finally, I’d like to mention one thing that should be remembered. There was, at that time, at least one ray of hope on the Supreme Court: Chief Justice Roy Moore. Many people criticize him for his popular image in the media of being a crazy conservative, but the truth is that while he was on the bench, he was the only justice that actually cared about doing justice for ordinary people who had been defrauded or harmed by the rich and the powerful. In the Tellis case, he wrote a powerful and eloquen dissent explaining just how important the right to trial by jury is, and he saw right through the majority opinion to show just what is happeneing in cases like this: the victims of fraud are excluded from the courthouse. They have lost their constitutional rights and are forced into an arbitration system that makes a mockery of justice.

Unfortunately, even that ray of hope has been extinguished, as Justice Moore was removed from the bench for his stance in defense of traditional marriage.

The full opinion in the Tellis case can be found here:

American Bankers Insurance v. Tellis

Scalia’s Last Betrayal: AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion – Brokenhearted Catholic Lawyer Judson E. Crump

February 27, 2017 by Attorney Judson E Crump 3 Comments

January 18, 1995:

JUSTICE THOMAS, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA joins, dissenting.

I disagree with the majority at the threshold of this case, and so I do not reach the question that it decides. In my view, the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not apply in state courts. I respectfully dissent.

Allied Bruce Terminix v. Dobson.

April 28, 2011:

JUSTICE SCALIA delivered the opinion of the Court.

…

We have described this provision as reflecting both a “liberal federal policy favoring arbitration,” Moses H. Cone, supra, at 24, and the “fundamental principle that arbitration is a matter of contract.”

AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion.

One of these statements was made by an honest intellect dedicated to restraining federal power within its original constititutional limits. The other was made by a dishonest intellect searching for an excuse to rule for the side he liked the best.

Yet both statements were made, or at least agreed to, by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. What happened during those 16 intervening years? Did he change his mind? Did his brain wither and grow feeble? Was he just tired of fighting the overreach of federal power and decided that, “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em?” Did he just have different clerks that ghostwrote his opinions for him?

Any of these things may be possible, but they’re all disturbing. And the result can’t be denied. The man who at one time stood constant as a stone for his originalist devotion to the founding fathers’ vision, became somehow more malleable, more willing to compromise his former values, and eventually able to completely reverse course and make a decision that would ultimately do great harm to millions of Americans.

Go ahead and read the actual opinions and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.

The Terminix decision is famous because it took the old Federal Arbitration Act (which had largely lain dormant from disuse for many years) and expanded it to say not only that arbitration agreements were enforceable like any other contract (which is what the FAA actually says), but also that it is illegal for any state to enact any law limiting arbitration. In politics, you often hear people talk about “states’ rights.” And at one time, Justice Antonin Scalia cared about “states’ rights.” Case in point: Allied-Bruce Terminix.

Though the SCOTUS wasn’t able to predict it at the time, their Terminix decision created a tidal wave of fine-print arbitration clauses being inserted into every business dealing that the average person enters into in their lives: Want to have internet? You’re stuck with arbitration. A car? Arbitration. Want to work for a large company? Arbitration. Want a bank account? Arbitration. Credit card? Arbitration.

Time would eventually teach us that this explosion of arbitration was really, really bad for ordinary people, because it allowed big businesses to get away with negligence, theft, or even outright fraud and never be taken to court over it. So the “liberal” justices later decided to change their tune on arbitration. Once they realized that it was being used to screw over ordinary people, they started ruling against it. Sure, that’s not intellectually consistent, but liberals justices tend to care a lot less about upsetting precedent. It’s what they’re all about, in fact. Judicial activism is the whole problem that most conservatives have with the Supreme Court’s democrat appointees.

But as with so many other things in American civics nowadays, what matters more than principle is what side you’re on. And so we came, eventually, down to AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion. In this case, the cell phone carrier falsely advertised free phones, but they were charging people sales taxes on a “free phone.” Since 5% of $0.00 is $0.00, I don’t understand how that’s possible, but hey, that was what they were doing. Naturally, they got sued in a class action.

But AT&T had slipped a no-class-action ban into its arbitration contract. Meaning that if you wanted to sue AT&T for its $5.00 overcharge, you’d have to hire a lawyer and make your own lawsuit.

Obviously, this is never going to happen, which means that enforcing such agreements is basically legalizing frauds that are too small to hire a lawyer for. 4 of the justices realized this and said “No, you can’t do that sort of Rumplestiltskin crap. This is America. If you rip 10,000 people off for $5.00 each, you can be taken to court for $50,000.”

But the 5 Republicans said otherwise. They couch it in much more elegant English and make a few excuses (“class arbitration greatly increases risks to defendants” etc.) but ultimately uphold the fantasy that arbitration is fair, even when it basically leaves consumers with no recourse whatsoever to small wrongdoings.

Of course, much has been written of the unfairness of arbitration elsewhere, so there’s no need to re-write those books here.

My concern here is with Scalia, and particularly how he slowly quit fighting federal power. How, when faced with cases where the litigants (big businesses) who supported his “team” (the Republican Party) found themselves asking for the expansion of federal power, he lost his principles. He just gave up. Unlike his friend, Justice Thomas.

When Scalia died, I heard a lot of mourning, especially from fellow Catholics, about how this justice was a principled, stoic man, a force for good, and a consistent defender of the rights of those fighting federal power. Maybe with cases involving religion or abortion, he was, even during the last decade of his life. But not when the power of Uncle Sam was stretched out to protect his favorites. The record is clear.

Congress Can’t Do Anything, But They Still Find Time to Protect Big Banks – Alabama Consumer Finance Attorney Judson E. Crump

July 11, 2016 by Attorney Judson E Crump Leave a Comment

The U.S. House of Representatives Recently Passed a Bill to Help Large Financial Institutions Get Away with Ripping Off Their Customers.

It’s called the “Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act,” and its current bill number is H.R.5485. Why does it matter? A little backstory is needed. Back in 2009, before people had forgotten just how bad the Subprime Mortgage Meltdown was, Congress passed a law called the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Unlike a great many laws passed by Congress (like, for instance, the comically named “Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005” which did nothing to either prevent bankruptcy abuse nor protect consumers), the Dodd-Frank Act really did try to reform Wall Street and protect consumers. Whether it succeeds will take some time to figure out.

One of the cornerstones of Dodd-Frank’s protections was the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was authorized to regulate banks and financial institutions in certain ways. One of those authorized regulatory powers was the ability to restrict the use of forced arbitration.

As I and many others have explained before, forced arbitration sucks for a lot of reasons, because it is usually biased in favor of big corporations and if you get stuck with a bad or even a crazy decision, you cannot appeal it.

Of course, people who have done bad things generally don’t like having to pay for them, so big businesses who deal with lots of consumers love arbitration. Lots of corporations stick arbitration clauses in their massive 30 page contracts, even for things as seemingly minor as a cable subscription or cell phone purchase. Most arbitration clauses prohibit you from joining in or filing a class action lawsuit. So if a cable company overcharges 200,000 customers by $25 each, then they’ve stolen $5 Million, and they should have to pay it back, right? Most people believe so. But arbitration lets them get away with small frauds and ripoffs, because nobody is going to hire a lawyer and file a lawsuit for $25. Since the arbitration clause prevents these people from all joining together, the cable company just gets away. If a human steals $5 Million, you go to jail. If a big business steals $5,000,000, they just need to make sure they have an arbitration agreement with everyone they stole from.

This is ridiculous, so the CFPB recently issued a regulation to prohibit financial institutions from being able to do exactly that. Naturally, the banks kicked and screamed and called their pets in Congress to block the CFPB from implementing this common-sense rule. Unsurprisingly, the House of Representatives gave them exactly what they asked for. They passed this bill along party lines (Republicans mostly voted for the banks; Democrats mostly voted against them).

Hopefully, the bill will never get signed. Stay tuned.

“Certified” Used Cars Can Still be a Scam – Alabama Consumer Fraud Lawyer Judson E. Crump

November 24, 2015 by Attorney Judson E Crump 2 Comments

Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle Programs Sometimes Cover Past Wrecks. Beware of Trusting the “Certified” Label.

When you’re looking to purchase a car, all you want is a reliable, comfortable car that you can afford. If you either cannot or will not spend the money to buy a brand new vehicle, then a used car is your only choice. Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles can be a decent option, if you’re dealing with a manufacturer who stands behind their certification and do your diligence ahead of time.

But many times, the certified label is nothing more than a fancy sticker used to raise the price of the car. Some manufacturers have even been known to repaint wrecked cars and then push them through their “certified” process. Or more commonly, allow dishonest dealer sales personnel to conduct the “certification” and simply rubber stamp the dealer’s certification.

If you paid certified-car money for a vehicle that was previously wrecked or used as a daily rent-a-car, you should talk to your lawyer about your options for getting your money back.

If you live in Alabama and would like a free consultation regarding your rights with certified pre-owned vehicles, call us at 251.272.9148 today.

This Is Why People Think Lawyers are Full of Crap

October 28, 2015 by Attorney Judson E Crump Leave a Comment

I love my job. Sure, I don’t get the huge payouts of the personal injury lawyers, or the television snippets of the criminal defense bar, or the posh offices and guaranteed salary of the corporate lawyers. But I get something a lot of lawyers don’t: I get to ask for justice. I represent humans who want nothing more than to be fairly compensated by the people and businesses who have screwed them. I punish law breakers, liars, scoundrels, and those who have no respect for the law. It’s like being a prosecutor without having to work for the government.

Ours is an adversarial legal system, meaning that some lawyer has to represent the guys on the other side (the cheaters, liars, and thieves). That guy’s job is totally different from mine. Rather than move the judicial process along to a fair and efficient conclusion, his job is to delay the justice system’s operation as much as possible. To do anything in his power to avoid that trial date where the truth will come out. He is the civil defense lawyer. NOTE: I don’t have anything against the civil defense bar. Many of its members are my friends. And I can’t really blame them for doing their job, which, unlike my own, comes with a steady paycheck.

One of the greatest justice-delaying weapons in the civil defense lawyer’s arsenal is Arbitration. If you’ve ever bought any product or service (except a residential mortgage loan) from a business in the past 20 years, you have signed a mandatory arbitration clause. Mandatory arbitration means that if the business screws you somehow – for instance by committing fraud, identity theft, selling you a product that explodes in your face or poisons you, etc. – you can’t take them to court. Instead, you have to go to arbitration. Most importantly, you cannot file a class action. So if a corporation screws you for only $250, you won’t be able to find a lawyer to represent you. If they defraud 10,000 people out of $250 (thereby profiting $2.5 million by fraud), nothing will happen to them.

Unsurprisingly, this drives people like me crazy. The idea that in the United States of America in 2015, you can make millions of dollars through fraud and get away with it by slipping 20 pages of ridiculous legalese into your contract is just absurd. I’m not alone. In 2009, Congress decided to do something about this. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Bill authorized the CFPB to conduct a gigantic, thorough study of arbitration clauses and empowered it to issue regulations limiting the use of arbitration in consumer finance – including class action bans.

Finally, after the CFPB study found what every lawyer already knows – that arbitration clauses and class action bans screw consumers – they have issued a proposed regulation prohibiting the use of class action bans. This is common sense and in accord with 90% of Americans’ idea of justice and fair dealing. But of course the industries who want to keep class actions from ever happening have thrown a major hissy fit. And they have paid their lawyers to write a bunch of lies and publish them.

Here’s what I’m talking about: An article by a partner at a major corporate firm had this to say:

“[A]rbitration could serve as a helpful complement to the CFPB’s complaint portal. More specifically, arbitration could be used to resolve those disputes that are not resolved through the complaint process.”

This is complete and utter bullshit. Everyone knows that arbitration clauses and class action bans save corporations money by keeping them from having to pay for things they do wrong that cost humans money. Otherwise their contracts wouldn’t be three feet long. But the shocking thing is that lawyers – who are ethically obligated not to disseminate false information – are willing to make false statements to regulators and the public just to appease their clients. An equivalent would be if, for instance, one of my clients asked me to write an article on this blog stating that any interest rate over 6% was illegal usury. That may have been the case in medieval Europe, but it isn’t true now. I would never publicly make a statement I knew was false.

But despite all of our ethical rules and professional standards, the fact remains that some lawyers get paid to lie. And that is why people think lawyers are full of it.

What is Fraud? – Alabama Consumer Fraud Attorney Judson E. Crump

October 1, 2015 by Attorney Judson E Crump 2 Comments

Fraud.

noun | \frȯd\

An intentional perversion of truth for the purpose of inducing another in reliance upon it to part with some valuable thing belonging to him or to surrender a legal right. A false representation of a matter of fact, whether by words or by conduct, by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment of that which should have been disclosed, which deceives and is intended to deceive another so that he shall act upon it to his legal injury…

Black’s Law Dictionary, 6th Ed. (1992).

Fraud can be hard to define. Even the good editors of Black’s Law Dictionary have a hard time with it. But you know it when you see it. When you have been defrauded.

So how do you get a fraud case to court?

In Alabama, there are 4 elements to a fraud case – elements you have to prove in order to win.

Misrepresentation. In other words, a lie. They told you something that was false. Keep in mind that the statement must be demonstrably false at the time it was said. A false promise of future conduct is not fraud. It may be breach of contract, but it isn’t fraud.
So if a merchant says “I will sell you this autographed 1995 Ozzie Smith baseball card for $50,” and the baseball card is not actually autographed by Ozzie Smith, then it is fraud. However, if he says “If you pay me $50, I will get Ozzie Smith to autograph this baseball card for you,” and he takes the money and never gets that autograph, then he has not defrauded you. He just breached his agreement.
Of a material fact. The false statement has to be about something important.
Example: the card dealer says “I’ll sell you this signed Ozzie Smith baseball card for $50 and put it in this blue envelope for safekeeping.” And he sells it to you for the agreed price, but the envelope is a red, equally safe envelope, then it is not fraud. The color of the envelope was not part of the basis of the bargain. You pay for the baseball card, not the color.
Reliance. You acted in reliance upon the false statement. Basically, the deception had to have caused you to act. In other words: if you had been told the truth, would you have acted any differently? If not, then there is no fraud.
Example: The card dealer says “This baseball card has been autographed by Ozzie Smith.” But your wife is a handwriting expert intimately familiar with the handwriting of Ozzie Smith. She tells you “No, that’s not a real autograph.” You buy the card anyway. There is no fraud, because you did not rely on the dealer’s false statement. You knew he was lying.

Reliance is the trickiest part of a fraud case, and it is the one area where fraudulent businesses most often get off the hook. Why? Because in Alabama, it isn’t enough to show that you relied on a false statement. You have to show that your reliance was reasonable. In other words, in relying on the false statement, were you applying common sense? But Alabama law goes farther than that. Our courts have decided that if there is a written contract that does state the truth, then you have a duty to read the contract. If the the dealer promises on his mother’s grave that the card is autographed, but the contract says in fine print “None of the baseball cards we sell are autographed,” then your reliance on the dealer’s statements will be deemed unreasonable, and the dealer is off the hook. Even though he is a liar, cheat, scoundrel, and blasphemer, you won’t get any money out of him. This is why businesses love fine print. Because they have paid a lot of money to elect judges who uphold the illusion that everyone who has purchased anything in the past 50 years has no children and no job, and and spends all day reading and deciphering fine print.
Damages. The fraud has cost you something. It may be money. It may be time. It may be a a 20% off coupon at a local oil change shop. But whatever it is, you have to prove not only that someone lied to you, but that your reliance upon their lies has cost you something.
Example: You’re at a baseball card shop, and you see a 1995 Ozzie Smith card with a signature on it. The label says “Price: $5. Not a real autograph.” The card dealer says “That’s not really his autograph. It’s a forgery.” You buy the card, and when you take it home, your wife (the handwriting expert) looks at it and confirms that it is, actually a genuine Ozzie Smith autograph. The dealer told you a lie. About a very important aspect of any baseball card. You paid $5 in reliance upon that lie. So there’s a misrepresentation of material fact, with reasonable reliance on your part. But there is still no fraud, because you have not been damaged. You paid $5 for a card that is worth at least $50.

Now in real life, most people know when they’ve been screwed. When people call my office after learning that they have been cheated, there usually is no question that they were told a lie, and that they’ve been damaged by it. Otherwise they wouldn’t be calling me. The real challenge for a lawyer is proving that reliance was reasonable and that damages were attributable to the false statements.

But fortunately, we are up to that challenge, and we have more weapons in our arsenal than just fraud. Deceitful statements in commercials or print ads could be false advertising. Incorrect statements in lending documents could violate the Truth in Lending Act. And false, deceptive, or misleading statements by debt collectors are prohibited by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

If you believe you have been defrauded, give us a call at 251.272.9148.

My “Clean Diesel” is apparently Dirty as Hell. What should I do? – Alabama Automobile Fraud Attorney Judson E. Crump

September 29, 2015 by Attorney Judson E Crump 2 Comments

Are you one of the approximately 482,000 VW Diesel owners in the USA with a car that was rigged to cheat its way through emissions tests? If so, here are some things to consider before you start freaking out:

You can still drive the car.The “defeat device” that lurks in your car’s computer is not dangerous. At least not directly. The VW diesel you drive emits about 40 times the maximum allowed level of Nitrogen Oxides. NOx, as they call it, is a smog creating pollutant that is bad for your lungs. So while driving a 2012 VW Jetta DTI is bad for all the other humans in your town, it won’t explode or suddenly fall apart or anything like that.
Your car may be illegal to drive.The whole problem with the scandal is that VW was rigging its engine computers to detect when the car was being driven in test conditions and suddenly change the engine’s performance so as to pump out low levels of NOx. But when it detects normal road conditions, it switches back to high-performance, high-pollution mode and suddenly quits giving a crap about the environment. And pesky government regulations.
So your car is likely to fail any emissions test. If you live in Alabama, you’re lucky because your high-polluting car fits right in with the attitude of our politicians, who probably think that VW’s deception is somehow actually a good thing. But even if you don’t live in a place with emissions testing, you may eventually want to sell your car to someone who does. And if you ever trade the thing in, the dealers are going to pay you a lot less for a car that they can’t sell in Arizona or Florida or some other such environmentally friendly place. So even if you’re 100% okay with trashing the air that your children breathe, you should at least care that you’re going to get a few thousand bucks less for your trade-in than you should have.
You should hire a lawyer. A real lawyer who will sit down and talk to you.The normal response to reports of massive corporate wrongdoing or dangerous products is to read the news, get horrified, and wait for the class action lawyers to send you a letter asking you to join their plan to Nail Those Bastards to the Wall, pay themselves $52 million, and send you a check for $199.16. This is fine when you’re getting compensated for a few under-filled cans of tuna. When your vehicle is technically illegal to drive in the civilized world, however, you may want someone who will actually pay attention to your case.
Of course it is impossible to calculate the dollar impact of VW’s deception on any particular car buyer, but it is possible that the financial loss alone could be several thousand dollars. Joining a class action settlement may not be your best bet. You can’t be forced to participate in a class action if you don’t want to. You should talk to someone who can help you figure out the way to go.
The dozens of class action lawsuits that have been filed are legally deficient in some ways.Why? Because they’re suing for fraud, concealment, and breach of contract. They’re missing a very important and potentially beneficial claim: breach of warranty. Legally speaking, breach of warranty is probably the most appropriate cause of action here. Contrary to popular opinion, you can’t sue somebody just because you’ve caught them lying. Fraud requires proof of something called reliance. It isn’t enough that a false statement or concealment caused you harm somehow. That false statement must have led you to act to your detriment. And it must have been reasonable. Reliance is the hardest thing to prove in a class action, because they have to show that all 482,000 VW DTI buyers out there relied on the “clean diesel” advertisements in purchasing the car. How can they prove the individual purchasing motivations for thousands of different people, each with their own priorities, preferences, and resources?
So why are such expert lawyers suing for fraud instead of breach of warranty? Because warranty requires that you notify the seller or manufacturer of the breach and give them a reasonable opportunity to cure it. And giving VW notice of the problem and a chance to cure it can take weeks. If you wait weeks to file your lawsuit, you can’t be the first in line to get your class certified and be the guy who gets to send out a hundred thousand checks for $20 each.

An individual, however, can treat this case like a normal breach of warranty. You can write a letter to VW at the address in the back of your owner’s manual. You can offer them 30 days to fix the problem. And when they fail to do so, you can take legal action.

There’s a big advantage to breach of warranty: attorneys’ fees. The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act provides that if you win a breach of warranty suit after following the manufacturer’s protocol for making a warranty claim, they can be required to pay your lawyer’s fees. This means that your lawyer doesn’t have to get a cut of your own recovery – you keep all your money, he keeps his. Way better than getting $4,000 as compensation for $7,000 of loss.
Federal Law May Require VW To Repair Your CarSince 1995, all new cars in the USA have a federally-mandated emissions warranty. Basically, all manufacturers must offer extended 8-year, 80,000 mile warranty coverage for the important emissions control parts and 2 year, 24,000 mile coverage for minor emissions-related parts.
If your car is less than 2 years old and has less than 24,000 miles on it, the VW Manufacturer’s warranty should obligate them to fix this problem. To make a claim under the warranty, you should write them a letter and follow the instructions in the back of the manual.

Bottom Line: VW is going to have to pay to fix this. But you shouldn’t just sit around and wait for the class action sharks to let you in on your small slice of the pie. Contact them immediately and demand warranty-covered repairs. If you live in Alabama or bought a VW Diesel from 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, or 2015 in Alabama, write us or give us a call at 251.272.9148.

There’s a New HomeGoods in Mobile! Before you go shopping there, Learn the Truth About their Pricing – Alabama Consumer Protection Attorney Judson E. Crump

September 1, 2015 by Attorney Judson E Crump Leave a Comment

HomeGoods advertises its ability to offer “department store” brands at way less than department store savings. Maybe sometimes they do. But when you go shopping there looking for a discount, don’t just take their word for it.

On July 23, 2015, a federal class action lawsuit was filed against HomeGoods, a large discount retailer that has stores nationwide. What did they do wrong?

Well, like all stores, their products have tags or stickers announcing their price. In addition to the price, though, HomeGoods adds a special “Compare At” price, which is invariably much higher than the HomeGoods price. The purpose of the “Compare At” price is, of course, to make you think that a $10 coffee mug really is worth $50. What HomeGoods doesn’t tell you, though, is that the “Compare At” number is not based on any real market research, and you probably won’t find any stores actually charging the super-high “Compare At” price.

In other words, they’re false advertising the savings that you get by shopping there. That is why they’ve been sued. The lawsuit seeks to require them to either make their labels accurate, or drop them altogether.

This doesn’t mean that HomeGoods doesn’t have good deals. I’m sure they do. In fact, my wife will probably check it out and come home with bags of “deals.”

So just be aware: if you see a coffee mug priced at $10 with a “$40 value,” don’t fall for it.

The text of the HomeGoods Lawsuit can be found HERE:

https://www.truthinadvertising.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Metoyer-v-TJX-et-al-complaint.pdf

What Is False Advertising? – Alabama Consumer Protection Lawyer Judson E. Crump

August 10, 2015 by Attorney Judson E Crump 11 Comments

“False Advertising” happens all the time. What Can You Do About It?

You Can't Believe Everything You See on TV. But False Advertising is Illegal. — You Can’t Believe Everything You See on TV. But False Advertising is Illegal.

Scenario 1: You open the mailbox. Tucked in with all the junk mail you see a great offer: a discount on something you’ve been wanting for months, available only for a limited time. You go to the store to buy the advertised special. But you get there, and the price advertised isn’t what is being charged.

Scenario 2: An online retailer’s website lists a color printer at $199. You buy it. 4 days later, the package arrives in the mail, and you open it only to find that the printer is a black and white printer.

Scenario 3: Autotrader.com has a truck listed for $16,990. You go to the dealership and when you sign the paperwork, you realize that the real price has been jacked up to $18,500.

Scenario 4: You take the family out to dinner at “The Red Crawfish,” where you order a fillet of red snapper. But it doesn’t taste like snapper. In fact, the underside of the fillet has some small black scales. Turns out, you’ve been served mullet instead.

All these scenarios have something obvious in common: they involve false advertising. False advertising can come in many forms, and new ones are invented every day, it seems. The reasons are obvious: businesses will do almost anything to get you to buy their products. And while some exaggeration is harmless and expected, are merchants allowed to lie about the products they sell? Absolutely not. And if they do, then they can be taken to court and held responsible.

Like most states, Alabama has a specific statute prohibiting false advertising: the Alabama Deceptive Trade Practices Act, or “ADTPA,” as we lawyers call it.

The ADTPA, which can be found at Ala. Code Title 8, Section 19, contains a list of specific prohibitions. Here are a few:

“Causing confusion or misunderstanding as to the source, sponsorship, approval, or certification of goods or services.”
“Causing confusion or misunderstanding as to the affiliation, connection, or association with, or certification by another.”
“Using deceptive representations or designations of geographic origin in connection with goods or services.”
“Representing that goods or services are of a particular standard, quality, or grade, or that goods are of a particular style or model, if they are of another.”
“Advertising goods or services with intent not to sell them as advertised.”
“Disparaging the goods, services, or business of another by false or misleading representation of fact.”
“Making a false or misleading statement of fact concerning the reasons for, existence of, or amounts of, price reductions.”
“Engaging in any other unconscionable, false, misleading, or deceptive act or practice in the conduct of trade or commerce.”

Translated to normal English, here are some examples of what the Alabama Deceptive Trade Practices Act means:

They can’t say a product is “Made in the USA” if in fact most of it was made elsewhere.
If you sell Grade A Angus Beef, then you can’t serve Grade B Beef, or Grade A Pork/Beef Mix, or Grade A Beef made from any cow other than an Angus. It must be Grade A, and Angus, and Beef.
You cannot advertise that your product has a 2 year warranty if you only provide a 1 year warranty.
They cannot put “red snapper” on the menu if what they sell people is something other than a Lutjanus campechanus (a.k.a. Red Snapper).
They can sell “Grouper” even if the grouper comes from Madagascar.
If a label says “Certified Organic,” then the food must be organic and certified.
If a restaurant brags that it was “Voted Best Hamburgers in Alabama,” then it must have some good reason for saying that.
If a price is advertised as “25% Off,” then the non-discounted price should be 33% higher than the “discount” price. (Because (3/4 of A) x 4/3 = A).

The Alabama Deceptive Trade Practices Act also forbids false advertising of services in many instances. For example:

If a debt settlement company claims it can cut your debt by 50%, and you pay them to do so, but they don’t perform, then they’re false advertising.
If a credit repair service claims to be able to boost your score by 100 points, then they better be able to do it.
A car finance company or dealer who says that “If you have a job and $500, you can get a new car!” must have new cars that they are actually willing to sell to anyone who has a job and $500.

How to Prepare A False Advertising Case

There are a few things you need to cover before you rush to a lawyer’s office, though.

First, you must get proof of the actual advertised terms.

If advertisements are written, then they are usually allowed to have footnotes and fine print that “explain” the terms they are advertising. You must obtain a copy or printout of any written, TV, or internet advertisement. Read the whole thing. Make sure you paid attention to it before you went to buy the advertised product. If a “disclaimer” or “Explanation” was hidden, it may not have any legal effect.

Oral or radio advertisements may have a similar explanation at some point during the advertisement. If you have been cheated or scammed by a radio advertisement, you need to listen for the advertisement that fooled you and record it.

Second, you must show that you bought the falsely advertised product or service.

This is pretty easy. If you have a receipt, bill of sale, credit card statement, or any other record of your purchase, then you can show that you were in fact the victim of the false advertising.

If you’ve been cheated by false advertising, it is important to take action quickly. The Alabama Deceptive Trade Practices Act only has a 1 year statute of limitations, which means that you have 1 year to take them to court once you’ve discovered (or should have discovered) the false advertising. Furthermore, you have to write a letter demanding compensation at least 15 days before you sue them.

The content of this letter should be drafted with the assistance of a consumer protection attorney, because if not drafted properly, it will not have legal effect.

We take false advertising seriously. It hurts real people and the entire economy. If you’ve been the victim of false advertising in Alabama, call us today at 251.272.9148.

Dealer Didn’t Pay Off Your Trade-In? What To Do About It – Alabama Consumer Protection Lawyer Judson E. Crump

July 7, 2015 by Attorney Judson E Crump 18 Comments

“My Trade-In Vehicle wasn’t paid off by the Dealer. Now it’s still on my credit report as past due. What can I do?”

Believe it or not, this question comes up fairly often. You go car shopping, and you find a car you like, negotiate a value for your trade-in vehicle, sign the papers and drive off in your new ride. You start making your new payments and all is well. Until you find out that your old car loan – the one that the dealer was supposed to pay off – hasn’t been paid off. And now you’re getting collection calls, and past due negative marks on your credit report.

Sometimes, it is a (mostly) honest mistake. Your old car note information got lost in a stack of other deals and the dealer didn’t send the check to the old lien holder until a couple of months had gone by. They eventually pay, but not before your credit takes a hit.

Other times, it is a regular practice of shady dealers. They gladly take your trade-in, and they give you credit for its value, minus the previous lien, and they’re supposed to pay off the old lien. But sometimes they don’t pay off anything for a couple of months, because they are waiting to see if they can obtain financing for your deal. Even though you’ve signed the papers and already driven off in the car. In the worst cases, they may not pay it off at all.

Regardless of their reasons, and even if they did it by mistake, a dealer’s failure to promptly pay off the lien on your trade-in vehicle can have serious negative consequences for you. See, the lienholder will blame you for their late payment. Your previous lienholder doesn’t care whose fault it is – all they know is that your payment is due on the first of the month, and if it is 30 days late, they’re going to report that to the credit bureaus, and it’s not going on the dealer’s credit report. It’s going on yours.

If you have otherwise clean recent credit history, this can have a serious impact on your ability to obtain a mortgage and can increase the cost of things like credit cards and other loans.

To make matters worse, the credit bureaus don’t care whose fault it is either. The Fair Credit Reporting Act only requires that the information they publish be as accurate as possible – not that it be a fair reflection of who is to blame for your negative credit marks. So if you dispute a “Past Due” amount on a car loan that was only past due because the dealer screwed up, they don’t have to fix it. And therefore they probably won’t.

So What Can You Do About It?

You’re not without hope, though. By taking your trade-in and adding the balance of your previous lien to the cost of your new vehicle, the Dealer is being entrusted with your property. They are taking your property partially for your benefit: to be liquidated to pay off your old lien. And they have a contractual duty to do just that. When they do not do so, they can be held liable to you for the damages caused by that failure.

The most common problem facing a buyer in these cases is proving that the dealer’s irresponsibility caused you damages, and proving the amount of those damages. Most often, the only financial harm that is caused by a dealer’s failure to pay off a trade-in is in the form of credit denials and increased cost of credit. While there have been cases of buyers who were unable to buy a home because of a dealer’s failure to promptly pay off a trade-in, this usually is not the case. Credit reports contain lots of information, and unless you can obtain evidence from a lender that you were denied credit, or your interest rate was higher primarily due to the unpaid previous car loan, then obtaining significant compensation from the dealer is going to be hard.

So where the dealer simply waited a month or two to pay off a trade-in, it may not be worth the money of filing a lawsuit unless you can show specific harm. You may simply want to file a small claims lawsuit or post a few negative reviews and BBB complaints against the seller.

However, if several months go by and the debt remains unpaid, then the dealer’s failure to pay the lien may be a sign of serious fraud, and you should talk to a lawyer immediately. Particularly if the previous lien holder begins pursuing you to collect the unpaid debt. Yes, this can happen.

This situation often involves two victims – you and the person that the fraudulent dealer sold your old car to. I’ve had clients who were sold vehicles that the dealer didn’t even own. If a dealer sells you a car that has a valid lien on it, then the previous lien holder may repossess the car from you – even though you never owed them a dime!

This can be immensely frustrating and disruptive to your whole life. The loss of your transportation can cause you to miss work and family commitments, not to mention the money that you’ve paid in good faith for the car. If you suspect that you’ve been sold a vehicle without clear title, then you need to call a lawyer immediately.