Area debt collector fined $1.3 Million

April 8, 2008

Ellis Crosby Judgment
According to information obtained from Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum’s website and records published by the Duval County Clerk of Court, Circuit Court Judge L. Haldane Taylor has ordered a Jacksonville resident and his debt collection agency to pay $1.3 million in restitution and civil penalties for violating Florida and Federal collections laws.

The order came down on Friday against Ted Ellis Crosby, director of Ellis Crosby and Associates, and was recorded yesterday.

Crosby and his business were found to have engaged in willful violations of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Business Practices Act and Florida’s Consumer Collections Practices Act. The penalty for those violations includes $388,000 in consumer restitution, $700,000 in fines and $253,000 in legal fees and court costs.

In addition to the restitution, fines, legal fees and court costs ordered in the final judgment, the judge also enjoined Crosby and his business from engaging in any activity related in any way to the ownership, processing, administration or collection of consumer debts in Florida.

McCollum was quoted in the media to say “Florida authorities will not tolerate unscrupulous individuals who victimize our citizens in potentially difficult financial situations.”

At the heart of the lawsuit, originally filed in 2005, were allegations from more than 380 victims who filed complaints with the Attorney General’s office claiming that Crosby and his business employed deceptive practices in an attempt to scare, harass and intimidate debtors into paying amounts in excess of their lawful debts.

Testimony from victims and witnesses revealed that Crosby and his business used tactics such as posing as a law enforcement officer, threatening seizure of property that could not lawfully be seized and even threatening bodily harm.

Written by Freddy · Filed Under Business

Comments

2 Responses to “Area debt collector fined $1.3 Million”

AuggieNewsHound on April 8th, 2008 7:32 am

From the Attorney General’s Office:

You may have questions relating to debt collections if you are contacted by a “debt collector,” someone who regularly tries to collect debts owed to others. A debt collector may contact you if you are behind in your payments to a creditor on a personal, family or household debt, or if an error has been made in your account.

A debt collector may contact you in person, by mail, telephone, telegram, or fax. However, a collector may not communicate with you or your family with such frequency as can reasonably be expected to be harassing. A debt collector may not contact you at work if the collector knows your employer disapproves. A collector may not contact you at unreasonable times or places, such as before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., unless you agree.

A debt collector is required to send you a written notice within five days after you are first contacted, telling you the amount of money you owe. The notice must also specify the name of the creditor to whom you owe the money, and what action to take if you believe you do not owe the money.

You may stop a collector from contacting you by writing a letter to the agency telling them to stop. Once the agency receives your letter, they may not contact you again except to say there will be no further contact, or to notify you if the debt collector or the creditor intends to take some specific action.

If you do not believe you owe the debt, you may write to the collection agency within 30 days after you are first contacted saying you don’t owe the money. The agency may not contact you after that unless you are sent proof of the debt, such as a copy of the bill.

A debt collector may not harass or abuse any person. For instance, a collector may not use threats of violence against the person, property or reputation, use obscene or profane language, advertise the debt, or

A debt collector may not use false statements, such as: falsely implying that they are attorneys, that you have committed a crime, or that they operate or work for a credit bureau or misrepresenting the amount of your debt, the involvement of an attorney in collecting a debt, or indicating that papers sent to you are legal forms when they are not.

Debt collectors may not tell you that you will be arrested if you do not pay, that they will seize, garnish, attach, or sell your property or wages, unless the collection agency or creditor intends to do so and has a legal right to do so, or that a lawsuit will be filed against you, when they have no legal right to file or do not intend to file such a suit.

If you have a question about whether the collection agency which has contacted you is properly registered, you may file a complaint either with the Attorney General’s office or the Federal Trade Commission, Correspondence Branch, Washington, D.C. 20580. You may file suit against the collection agency for violating state and/or federal law. If you prevail, you may be awarded your actual damages, attorneys fees and costs.
Mike on April 8th, 2008 7:04 pm

For 18 years, I was in the credit reporting and collection agency business in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. I remember September 20, 1977 quite vividly. It was the day that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was enacted.

Although consumer credit reporting was regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and had been since October 26, 1970, I was (and still am) amazed that it took so long for collections to come under federal regulation.

Since credit is a privilege, not a right; I always felt that the public faced a greater potential injury from the activities involved in collections than from those involved in compiling credit bureau reports.

Even before the FDCPA was enacted, Florida was licensing collection agencies and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation had enacted rules governing collection practices in Florida.

I am glad to see a case receive this sort of attention after it has made its way through the courts. Collection clients will be hard for this guy to come by even in other states — since he is barred from collecting in Florida. Frankly, they should be.