Skip to content

The Holland Law Firm, P.C.

Criminal Records Identity Theft – What Does it Entail?

Learn More
Holland Law Firm logo
blog-logo-final
Newsletters
Contact Us

Blog

Can a Judgment Holder Assign a Judgment Several Years After the Corporation Was Dissolved?

September 20, 2014

In Maryland, a judgment is valid for 12 years, and may be renewed at any point within those twelve years. In Maryland right now, there has been a rash of new debt buyers garnishing people’s wages by claiming to be the assignee of judgments that are as old as 10 years, and which were obtained by prior debt buyers which have long since filed articles of corporate dissolution. [1] In several active cases, the original judgment creditor was Platinum Financial Services Corporation (which filed Articles of Dissolution with the State of Maryland on March 25, 2009), and the new purported Assignee is Palisades Acquisitions XVI, LLC. The validity of those assignments depends on whether a corporation that has been dissolved can legally later assign judgments 3, 4, 5 or more years after the corporation filed its articles of dissolution.Read More »Can a Judgment Holder Assign a Judgment Several Years After the Corporation Was Dissolved?

Is Your Private Student Loan A Contract Under Seal?

September 20, 2014

In many private student loan cases in Maryland (as well as in other cases), the collection lawyer will argue that the statute of limitations is 12 years instead of 3 years. The reason, they argue, is that many private student loan contracts are “contracts under seal.” Lately I have seen a spate of private student loan contracts where the word “SEAL” does not appear anywhere on or near the signature line, and despite this absence, collection lawyers argue that it is still a contract under seal. Maryland law seems clear that absent the word “SEAL” next to or near the signature, there is not a “contract under seal” and thus there is not a 12 year statute of limitations.

Read More »Is Your Private Student Loan A Contract Under Seal?

Resources on Medical Debt Collection

How to check medical bills for errors, here. List of 13 states that may not balance bill, with explanations, here. If you are in New York, there is actually a website called Stop Surprise Medical Bills, here. 2014 study by the CFPB finding that medical debt overly penalizes consumer credit scores, here. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s… Read More »Resources on Medical Debt Collection

John Oliver on Payday Lending

This entire 16-minute segment is definitely worth watching, here. With 1.8 million views on YouTube already, this insightful and often serious clip has the potential to impact policy and regulation. Pass it on.

“Bad Paper” by Jake Halpern featured in New York Times Magazine Cover Story

Bad Paper: Chasing Debt From Wall Street to the Underworld by Jake Halpern

The New York Times Magazine has just published a cover story adapted from Jake Halpern’s phenomenal upcoming book, Bad Paper. You can read the entire article here. Because I can’t possibly capture Halpern’s outstanding writing style or story telling abilities, I offer the following excerpts article. In my opinion, Halpern’s book demonstrates that, despite what the industry contends, there is still plenty of actual ongoing systemic fraud and abuse.

Read More »“Bad Paper” by Jake Halpern featured in New York Times Magazine Cover Story

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Sues Large Debt Collection Law Firm, Calling it a “Mill” and a “Factory.”

In what is probably an unprecedented move, a federal regulator has filed a lawsuit accusing a debt collection law firm of violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act because the law firm is a mill, and taking a factory approach to litigation. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that in filing over 300,000 lawsuits, there was a… Read More »Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Sues Large Debt Collection Law Firm, Calling it a “Mill” and a “Factory.”