As with all of our practice areas, we work diligently to maximize a client’s consumer rights under all applicable federal and state laws. A consumer rights plaintiff seeks compensation and/or injunctive relief against fraudulent or unlawful commercial practices, including the restitution of any damaged property. Fraudulent or unlawful commercial practices include different types of consumer transactions, including false advertising, abusive debt collection, and fraud.
Unlike law firms that market nationally on television and the internet, the Claunch Law Firm offers clients in North Texas the ability to meet with a lawyer face to face to discuss issues important to them. The ability to sit across the table with an attorney to discuss an important issue makes a big difference. It is hard trying to explain a complicated legal matter that usually involves multiple pages of documents filled with legal terms in fine print to an attorney far away in an email or online. When a person needs professional advice, whether it be a doctor, lawyer, accountant, or financial advisor, it is important to meet that professional in person. We offer clients the ability to work closely with an attorney who cares and is committed to protecting their legal rights.
In our over 50 years of experience, we have stood up multiple times to corporate America. We have represented clients harmed by an array of unfair or deceptive actions done in the name of increasing sales or simple exploitation.
Listed below are some examples of consumer fraud and unfair debt collection practices. If you feel you are the victim of consumer injustice, fraud, unfair debt collection or creditor harassment, please call the Claunch Law Firm for a free consultation with a lawyer.
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Texas Debt Collection Practices Act
Abusive debt collection activities in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Texas Debt Collection Act. Some examples of unlawful actions include:
- placing telephone calls without meaningfully disclosing the debt collector’s identity.
- falsely representing the character, amount, or legal status of the alleged debt.
- falsely representing the level of attorney involvement in the collections process.
- threatening to take an action against debtor that cannot be legally taken or that was not actually intended to be taken.
- conveying a false sense of urgency for the purpose of compelling debtor to communicate with a debt collector.
- failing to notify debtor during each collection contact that the communication was from a debt collector.
- falsely representing the status or nature of the services rendered by debt collector’s business.
Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act
Consumers are often taken advantage of by those who engage in false, misleading, or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of trade or commerce. Some examples of such unlawful acts include:
- representing goods or services are of a particular standard, quality, or grade, or that goods are of a particular style or model, if they are of another.
- representing that an agreement confers or involves rights, remedies, or obligations which it does not have or involve, or which are prohibited by law.
- knowingly making false or misleading statements of fact concerning the need for repair parts, replacement, or repair service.
- representing that work or services have been performed on, or parts replaced in, goods when the work or services were not performed or the parts replaced.
- failing to disclose information concerning goods or services which was known at the time of the transaction if such failure to disclose such information was intended to induce the consumer into a transaction into which the consumer would not have entered had the information been disclosed.
Telephone Consumer Protection Act
Harassing Telephone Calls in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. An example of such unlawful actions include:
- repeatedly utilizing an automatic telephone dialing system and/or an automatic pre-recorded voice to make telephone calls to a debtor’s telephone number for non-emergency purposes without the debtor’s consent.
Truth in Lending Act
Borrowers are at the mercy of lenders who fail to fully disclose the terms and conditions regarding the repayment of a loan in violation of the Truth in Lending Act. Some examples of such unlawful actions include:
- when a lender fails to disclose the number, amount, and due dates or period of payments scheduled to repay the total of payments on a loan.
- the refusal to promptly provide the borrower with an accurate payoff amount or balance due.
- the refusal to promptly respond to and fully explain any alleged errors claimed by the debtor upon proper written request to the lender.
Fair Credit Reporting Act
Borrowers are at the mercy of lenders and credit reporting agencies to accurately report their credit history under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Some examples of such unlawful actions include:
- failing to establish or to follow reasonable procedures to ensure maximum possible accuracy in the preparation of the credit report and credit files of borrowers.
- failing to correct inaccurate information in a borrower’s credit file after receiving actual notice of such inaccuracies.
- failing to maintain reasonable procedures with which to verify disputed information.
EMPLOYMENT LAW
Fair Labor Standards Act
Often employers pay their employees wages which are in violation of federal law. Although these rules do not apply to every job and to every employer, many violations are never reported. Some examples of unlawful actions include:
- failure to pay the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
- employing workers for weeks longer than 40 hours without compensating for work in excess of 40 hours per week at rates no less than one-and-a-half times their regular rates of pay.