HAMILTON LAW GROUP AKA ATTY. JAMES HAVASSY
Posted in: http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-610-837-3000
No web site that I could find. Address: Physical 1642 Union Blvd, Allentown, PA 18109
Mailing PO Box 90301 Allentown, PA 18109
BBB page with a D+ and 1 complaint that he never responded to. They also have him at a different address: http://www.bbb.org/washington-dc-eastern-pa/b ... em-pa-236003922
BBB hasn’t listed this government action yet:
Debt collector sued for pursuing people for relatives' debts
The Morning
[email protected]
Am I responsible for my relative's unpaid debts?
State sues debt collector, alleges unfairly targeted people for relatives' debts
When relative dies, you may be responsible for unpaid debts.
I got a lot of feedback when I wrote a column last year about a debt collector pursuing Peg and Bob Mohn of Bangor for their late son's unpaid medical bills.
Some readers didn't think that was fair.
Neither does the state attorney general's office, which recently sued that debt collector.
Hamilton Law Group of East Allen Township and its president, James Havassy, improperly used the state's Colonial-era Filial Responsibility Law "to coerce payments from debtors' relatives, who were not responsible for the debt," the attorney general's office alleges.
I wrote about the Mohns in September after they got letters from Hamilton Law Group regarding debts to physicians offices that had treated their son, Earl, several years before he died.
"Notice is hereby given to you that a spouse, parent and child of an indigent person all have the legal responsibility to care for and maintain or financially assist them," said the letter, signed by Havassy, who is an attorney. "Therefore, in accordance with the Filial Responsibility Law, as we can prove that the debts of your relative were not timely paid as they became due, you are fully responsible for this debt."
Believing they had no other choice, the Mohns set up a payment plan and had been paying $50 a month since October toward their son's debt of about $2,000. Their payment was not deducted from their account in May, though, which they presume was due to the attorney general's case, which was filed May 29 in Commonwealth Court.
Havassy did not return my call. He hadn't filed a written response to the lawsuit as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the attorney general's office.
The lawsuit describes Hamilton Law Group as a debt collection law practice that operates mainly in Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe counties.
It says the firm's debt collection letters were "an unfair and unconscionable means to collect a debt, and the collection of these debts was not expressly permitted by law."
Peg Mohn told me the attorney general's office contacted her after seeing my column and asked her to file a formal complaint. While I had not mentioned in my column the name of the debt collector that was pursuing them, the attorney general's office knew it was Hamilton Law Group and Havassy, she said.
They tried to collect debts not subject to collection under the law and multiple people complained "about some of the debt collection techniques," the lawsuit says.
It cites six examples, including the Mohns', though it did not mention them by name. One woman received collection notices for an anesthesia bill owed by her adult son, who has his own health insurance. A man was pursued for the cost of his mother's and adult sister's dental services. Another man was pursued for his father's debt to a cardiologist. Two people claimed their credit profiles were "negatively marked."
The Filial Responsibility Law was drafted centuries ago so family members would take responsibility for each other and the government wouldn't have to. Its use waned when the modern public support system was developed, but the law gained new life in 2012 when the state Superior Court ruled that an Allentown man was responsible for nearly $93,000 in bills from the rehabilitation center that had treated his mother after a car accident.
The law doesn't always make parents and their children responsible for each other's debts. The debtor must be indigent and the person targeted for payment must have the ability to pay. That's a key point in the case against Hamilton Law Group and Havassy.
The attorney general's office said Havassy failed to fulfill his legal responsibility to show the debtor was indigent and the relative being pursued for collection could pay the debt.
"He allegedly presented the liability as absolute," the attorney general's office said in a news release.
The law is designed to collect money from family members only in situations where public money is available and has been applied for, the lawsuit says, but Hamilton Law Group and Havassy used the law "as a general method of ordinary debt collection for any debt for any medical service."
The collections letters made misstatements and mischaracterized the law, the lawsuit contends.
"The language … describing that the relatives are fully responsible for their adult family member's debt, without a court determination, is a false representation of the character and legal status of the debts," according to the lawsuit.
Havassy and his company are accused of violating the state's Unfair Trade Practice and Consumer Protection Law, the state's Fair Credit Extension Uniformity Act and the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
The lawsuit seeks restitution for people such as the Mohns and a court order barring the allegedly improper methods of debt collection.
Know your rights if you are contacted by a debt collector. You are entitled to receive paperwork, called a "validation notice," that explains how much you owe and to whom you owe it. If you don't believe you owe the money, within 30 days you should write a letter to the debt collector explaining that.
If you are asked to pay a relative's debt under the Filial Responsibility Law, contact the state attorney general's office (800-441-2555 or http://www.attorneygeneral.gov).
You can file complaints about debt collectors with that office, the Federal Trade Commission (202-326-2222, http://www.ftc.gov) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (855-411-2372, http://www.consumerfinance.gov).
The Watchdog is published Thursdays and Sundays. Contact me at
[email protected], 610-841-2364 or The Morning Call, 101 N. Sixth St., Allentown, PA, 18101. I'm on Twitter @mcwatchdog and Facebook at Morning Call Watchdog.
Bizapedia page: http://www.bizapedia.com/pa/HAMILTON-LAW-GROUP.html
http://www.bizapedia.com/pa/HAMILTON-LAW-GROU ... ORPORATION.html
Not much on line about this criminal.
James A. Havassy Bar #50230
Jana Havassy Bar #313488
Federal law (FDCPA) requires them to send you a letter (US MAIL ONLY) within 5 days of their first contact that contains their name, physical address, the creditor’s name, and the amount of the alleged debt. It also must contains “mini-Miranda” telling you that it is an attempt to collect a debt and that all information will be used for those purposes. The one other important thing that this letter must also have in it is that you have a right to dispute the debt within 30 days receipt of the letter and if you do so, all collection activity must be stopped until the debt is verified.
Read up on your rights here, get template letters to send and also make a complaint at this government site: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/
Also file a complaint with your State Attorney General's office.
List of State AG’s offices: http://consumerfraudreporting.org/stateattorneygenerallist.php
As well as the PA AG’s Office: https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/Quick_Links/P ... omplaint_Forms/