A few months ago, I noticed my bank account had been frozen (joint account with my wife). When I contacted the bank, they told me it was a lien held against my wife from Palisades Collections (Attorney Pressler & Pressler). I acted as my wife's attorney, although I am not one (but dabbled in military law while in the service). I called them to discuss this alleged debt owed to AT&T Wireless from 2001. When I couldn't get a straight answer from them, I decided to go the legal route and use the court system, just as they did to freeze my account.
I went to civil court and filed a Motion to Show Cause letter. This puts the burden of proof on the debt collectors to show original documentation and if in fact the debt is valid. Be prepared to spend a few hours in court to get all the paperwork done. As the court will tell you, this letter must be sent certified mail, return receipt, and will give you a date to send it by. On your Show Cause letter, it will give you a date to return to court to present your side and theirs as well.
So, I returned to court on the date assigned, and low and behold, there were 2 attorneys from Pressler present with numerous cases. I waited 2 hours before their attorney was ready to talk to me. He introduced himself and asked my wife and I to go to the back of the court.
He started flipping through his paperwork and then asked about the alleged debt. I told him that I felt this was identity theft as my wife never had an account with AT&T Wireless. He said you still owe over $1100. I then asked him when this paperwork was served, as I recall never receiving any documents. The attorney told me it was taped to my door on Sept 16 at 6:36am. I told him I was at home at that time and asked why no one rang my doorbell.
First of all, I don't think they serve papers that early, and if they did, they should still ring the bell. When I told him I was home, he gave me 2 "other" dates and times when service was attempted. Again, I told him I was home at those times. I then asked him to provide me with proof that he was representing AT&T Wireless. That must have aggravated him because he said "BACK OFF", I'm going to drop this case. I told him you're damn right you're going to drop this case because you don't have one!
He then said to me "Don't take your frustration out on me, I'm just the attorney". I told him to put himself in my shoes, had I froze his bank account, he'd be pissed too!
I then looked at the documents for Proof of Service. They flat out lied about this and got away with it. Quite frankly, had this gone to the judge, I would have embarassed this attorney because he had no proof of this debt other than what was on my wife's credit report, which I believe was illegally obtained. He knew the case had to be dismissed and all liens lifted.
In summation, they could not prove that this alleged debt was valid, nor could they provide original documentation because they had none.
The only thing they accomplished was freezing my bank account and me missing 2 days work to go to court.
I wrote this letter to let others know what is going on with this company. It's a damn shame that there are agencys out there that would stoop to this level and shame on the attorneys for representing them!
Case dismissed.
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