Category: Consumer Protection
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals on October 17, 2024, issued an order that will require Hess Memorial Hospital to stand trial on charges it violated the Wisconsin Consumer Act. Hess sued a patient, and the patient retained Attorney Briane Pagel and LawtonCates, S.C., who filed a counterclaim alleging that Hess had engaged in illegal collection […]
A Dane County judge issued a ruling requiring UW Health to face a jury on allegations that it violated Wisconsin law in its dealings with a patient. The patient, represented by Attorney Briane Pagel and Lawton Cates, S.C., obtained a price quote from UW Health prior to her procedures. UW told her that her out-of-pocket […]
The customer was allowed to proceed on claims that the online lender and debt collection firm violated the Wisconsin Consumer Act by not providing required notices and by filing error-filled pleadings. A customer who took out an online loan and then was unable to pay the loan back has been allowed to proceed to a […]
LawtonCates convinces Wisconsin’s Court of Appeals to provide debtors with greater protections against creditor abuse, even after a default judgment was entered. A recent Wisconsin Court of Appeals opinion in a case litigated by LawtonCates’ Attorney Briane Pagel expanded debtor protections against creditor abuse and overreach. In Creditbox v. Weathers, the Court of Appeals held that […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is asking a court to order Portfolio Recovery Associates to pay $24,000,000 in penalties and damages. The CFPB’s announcement on March 23, 2023, said it had caught Portfolio “red-handed” in 2015 committing numerous violations of law, and that Portfolio had not changed its practices. The CFPB said Portfolio has […]
The battle between debtors and debt collectors has been raging for years. In recent times, law changes have given debtors a fighting chance. Even though these law changes haven’t shifted the odds to favor debtors, the balance of power has shifted enough that desperate debt collectors have resorted to committing offenses that violate consumer protection law. […]
LawtonCates recently won a case involving a dealership misrepresenting the quality and value of a vehicle it sold to our client. The Grant County dealership sold a used vehicle to our client without properly and legally disclosing the issues with the vehicle. The vehicle then broke down, and the dealership repossessed it – even though our […]
Attorney Briane Pagel recently won a jury trial in Rock County on behalf of one of LawtonCates’ clients. The Rock County jury found that the credit union’s phone calls to our client were harassing and illegal. What Happened to Our Client? Like many other Americans, our client fell behind on his car loan. He then made […]
Recently, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued an opinion holding that it is illegal for repo men to seize peoples’ cars from the parking garage in their apartment. The case, Duncan v. Asset Recovery Specialists (case number 2019 AP 1365, reported at 2022 WI 1), was brought by a woman whose car was illegally repossessed from […]
Student loan payments for federal loans are suspended until September, 2020; the CARES Act, which suspended payments, also required that student loan companies treat the loans as though they were still being paid. Some loan servicers may not be complying with the law, and that could damage the borrower’s credit. Recently, Great Lakes Educational Loan […]