Court restores
$6 million award

By MARK MORRIS The Kansas City Star

A federal appeals court on Thursday restored a $6 million
punitive damage award in a debt collection case brought
against a subsidiary of Bear Stearns.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the
8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision by
a federal judge in Kansas City throwing out the award.

The award, thought to be the largest ever handed down
locally in an individual consumer protection case, was in
favor of Stanley and Pat Stark of Holden, Mo.

In 2002, arbitrator Donald L. Mason ordered
EMC Mortgage Corp. of Irving, Texas, to pay the
punitive damages to the Starks.

The couple had argued that EMC, a subsidiary of
Bear Stearns & Co. Inc., had violated the Fair
Debt Collection Practices Act by repeatedly contacting
them when they were represented by a lawyer.

Kansas City lawyer Roy True said Thursday that the
appeal court's decision was a victory for the arbitration
process.

“The debt collector got what they bargained for,”
True said. “They forced my client into arbitration and
then when we won the arbitration case, they wanted
the court to overturn it.”

Elizabeth Ventura, a Bear Stearns spokeswoman, declined
comment, saying the firm had not yet reviewed the court's
decision.

The case stemmed from a loan the Starks took out from
United Lending Corp. Not long afterward, the Starks
filed for bankruptcy. About the same time,
United Lending also filed for bankruptcy.
In mid-2000, EMC bought United Lending's promissory notes,
including the Starks' loan.

Shortly after that, EMC and its lawyers began contacting the
Starks to collect the debt. Although True warned them not
to contact his clients directly, EMC and the lawyers persisted,
sending additional letters and then a “notice of foreclosure sale”
to Stanley Stark.

The foreclosure never occurred. Instead, an EMC agent entered
the Starks' vacant house and placed a sign in the window stating
that the property had been secured and was not for sale or rent.

The Starks earlier had filed a federal lawsuit to stop the foreclosure,
but EMC invoked a provision in the loan documents that required
sending the case to arbitration.

Mason then hit EMC with $6 million in punitive damages, finding
the company's conduct “reprehensible and outrageous and in total
disregard of (the Starks') legal rights.”

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Stiffler
Senior Member

Posts: 758
Joined: Jun 2004

Saturday 08/28/04 5:50 AM (NEW!)

Quote
Originally posted by: Bill Lindala
ecision.

Dr...you are a reasonable person

Remember, this is the guy that was gonna sue me. Based on a fictional character, with, for all he knows, a ficticous registration name and POSSIBLY, POSSIBLY an IP address and a prayer. I still think he shouldn't be watching those kids. I feel bad for having done it, but I did expose this here fella as the fraud he is. Its probably Dr Wrench. But even wrench knew the difference between slander and libel. Hell my 3 year old nephew knows that, but you aint getting anywhere near him you freak.

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We always prefer war on our own terms to peace on someone else's. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966