Over the last two years I have been sued three times by the same debtor in Federal Court. The suit took place in Chicago since the debtor lives in Illinois. The suit was based on violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act. I was being sued for $75,000 but was told by the debtor’s attorney that if I wanted to make this “go away” they would settle for $15,000.

Since I was confident there were no violations, I told them no. Of course this meant that I was forced to hire an attorney in Chicago to defend what would be the beginning of three frivolous lawsuits filed against my company in Federal Court. All the false accusations were being made by a debtor that rented an RV to make an alleged charitable run across the U.S. He made it from Oregon to Utah when in fact his destination was Yankee stadium during the World Series. He never returned the RV; hence the account was placed for collections. He sued me, the RV Company, the apartment manager where he had illegally parked the vehicle and the towing company that towed the vehicle away. The RV Company buckled which basically left me alone to fight the battle. I have never been too good with legalized extortion so the battle began.

We were successful and won the FDCPA suit. They appealed and we won again! The second suit was based on violation of the Fair Debt Credit Reporting Act. Once again we won, they appealed, and we won again. Then the third suit was filed. “Intentional infliction of emotional distress.” Basically loss of his great reputation with one of his business associates.

We began preparation for a trial by jury. During discovery we learned the debtor that was suing me had in fact filed a criminal complaint with the police against the very individual that he was “concerned would no longer do business with him,” for stealing $200.000 from the non-profit organization.

They decided to drop or “dismiss” the suit. In summary I am a strong advocate for “tort reform.” I believe as long as we abide by the laws set forth in our industries we will prevail. Much money was spent defending these frivolous suits but, I did not compromise my values and there is no monetary value for that.