I wanted to alert you to some rather shocking information, whichyou may find intriguing, that I have learned about one of the nation's mostprolific and very aggressive debt collection law firms, Frederick J. Hanna& Associates of Georgia. The Hanna firm targeted me with its illegaldebt collection efforts and I am now a plaintiff in one of over a dozenlawsuits currently pending in Minnesota Federal Court against the Hanna firm, the National Arbitration Forum, another debt collection firm named MannBracken, and several of the major credit-card issuing banks.
Some of the Hanna firm's employees found out about my litigationand came forward of their own accord and began to provide me with documents, e-mails, and other information which paint a frightening picture of thisnationwide firm's illegal debt collection practices and other illegal businessoperations. On a side background note — you may have heard of Mann Bracken;they were once the largest nationwide debt collection law firm in the UnitedStates until the Minnesota Attorney General discovered last summer that theyshared joint ownership with the National Arbitration Forum ("NAF"), to whom Mann Bracken had channeled hundreds of thousands of its debt collectioncases, and that the two companies actively conspired to conceal theiraffiliation. The Minnesota AG sued the NAF in July and the NAF agreedwithin days to cease all credit card arbitration (tens of thousands of pendingcases). This had the ancillary effect of putting Mann Bracken out ofbusiness. Mann Bracken admitted its debt collection business model wasillegal. Some 60,000 of Mann Bracken's debt accounts were subsequentlytransferred to the Hanna firm early this year, where, not coincidentally, anumber of Mann Bracken's attorneys found jobs after their former employer wentkaput. It has become readily apparent from the information provided tome by the Hanna firm's employees that many of Mann Bracken's shocking, abusivedebt collection practices continue with unabated gusto at the Hanna Firm. According to what I have been provided by its employees, theHanna firm regularly produces fraudulent affidavits to facilitate its debtcollection proceedings, including in arbitration; the Hanna firm regularly andknowingly files other false and fraudulent documents in civil litigation andarbitration proceedings; and ignores state and federal debt collection statutesthat it finds inconvenient or otherwise would cut into profits. These are not isolated incidents, nor are they small innumber. The Hanna firm files nearly 12,000 lawsuits as well as an equalnumber of garnishments a month all across the country, doing so without evenhaving basic evidence on file to prove the debtors owe the money, and noattorneys even review these files before the lawsuits are commenced againstthese hapless consumers.in addition, none of the eight attorneys at a firm employinghundreds do not make the decision to sue, that decision is made by an AccountManager within the firm with no legal training.indeed, the non-lawyers are provided answers in advance oftaking the annual compliance exams of the FDCPA/GLB/FCRA and etc. Hanna firmrequires all of its non attorney staff to obtain an error free score of 100%. If that employee fails to score 100% even with the answers in hand, they areallowed to take it again, and again, conferring with co-workers, allowed tosearch the Internet, meet with supervisors to insure they achieve the demanded100% scores. Hanna attorney's signatures are regularly affixed to legaldocuments that the attorney has never even seen or signed. These documents areroutinely notarized and signed at the same time by the same non-lawyer. Talk about automated debt collection lawsuits clogging thecourts! One single attorney (of only the eight employed at the firm) signatureallegedly appears to sign on more than 5000 of the referenced legal documentsin a single week! He also attends trials and hearings, has meetings with FredHanna, et al. Not incidentally, many of these same employees have alsoinformed me that the work environment at the Hanna firm is toxic and thatfemale employees are routinely subjected to sexual harassment, includingunwanted sexual advances from the lawyers and debt collectors employed by theHanna firm. The employees production is tightly monitored by CVCcameras, stroke count keyboard software as well other systems designed to makesure the employees meet their numbers or they are terminated as well. The abuse extends to employee production records that aremanipulated by the office manager to show a lack of production to justifyrefusal of paid time off and other benefits or to apply discipline for thosenot in her favor, but such tactics are never employed against any of her familymembers working at the same firm. Nepotism is rampant.in short Fred Hannaseems to have created the modern day equivalent of debt collection sweatshop. Fred Hannais the self-styled, self-proclaimed SUPERMAN of debt collection. So focused oncultivating that image his personal office is decorated in the comic book herocolors of Gold, Purple, and Red. SUPERMAN figurines and paraphernalia abound within theenter confines of his office which is quite intimidating to people who work forhim according to his employees. Accordingto his employees, each year on Halloween at the office party, heappears in a very tight fitting SUPERMAN costume, which according to women inhis office nothing short of a display of his "manliness" leavingnothing to the imagination. According to his employees, there are innumerablephotos taken during this annual event, with the young woman of Fred Hannasfavor at that moment (over the years there have been several according to inoffice gossip,) using his clothing and id tags, "strategically placed asher revealing costume that evening, creating an image of discrimination, favoritism and sexism. They also have informed me that Mr. Hanna sends out e-mails tohis employees instructing them whom to vote for in elections in the State ofGeorgia, where the Hanna firm is domiciled, in order to drum up support forcandidates whom Mr. Hanna believes are sympathetic to his debt collectionbusiness, a practice that is prohibited in the employees handbook, (the coverof which has an image that can only be of Holy Bible) a violator subject tosummary termination. Mr. Hanna is also apparently prone to violent tirades directedat employees who question his judgment or business practices, and has onseveral occasions thrown computers at employees and threatened them. Allof these business practices are conducted behind the cloak of Mr. Hanna's lawlicense, which he and the other lawyers at his firm regularly hide behind inorder to maintain the appearance of ethical behavior and to avoid the scrutiny thatordinary debt collection firms would normally receive. A number of these employees who initiated contact with mefurther informed me that many other employees wished to reveal information tome about the Hanna firm's illegal business practices and hostile workenvironment, but were terrified of retaliation and/or termination because ofthe Hanna firm's arbitrary and harsh practice of terminating employees withoutproper cause in order to bully employees into ignoring and/or cooperating withthe firm's illegal business practices. The Hanna firm is notorious indisputing each and every claim for unemployment benefits according to theemployees that have come forwardThis Press Release is not about my case or me nor should it be. Whiletheir information will obviously be valuable in my pending litigation, there isa larger moral issue here — a huge company is raking in huge profits in anunconscionable fashion, damaging tens of thousands of consumers a month whileexploiting and abusing its own employees in the process. I promised these employees I would do what I could to bring somepublic attention to their plight. Each might be willing to submit to aninterview as long as they are hot in silhouette and their voices digitized sothey cannot by identified by The Hanna Firm for fear of a ruthless retaliationagainst them. Please let me know if you would like to review any of theinformation and/or documentation I have obtained, and let me know if you wouldlike to discuss on the phone, or in the alternative, Sincerely
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