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DannLaw PUA update: Lawsuit is still pending before Judge Holbrook, Important ALERT about state attempts to collect “overpayments”

Leo Jennings III

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Ohio Bankruptcy LawyerI appreciate everyone’s patience with the slow progress of our case seeking payment of the Pandemic Unemployment Supplemental Benefits that were denied to Ohioans by Governor DeWine and the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.  As an FYI, I emailed Judge Holbrook’s law clerk today and asked if there was anything we or opposing counsel needed to do to enable the judge to rule on the motion to amend our complaint that we filed on behalf of the plaintiffs in March of 2023 and/or the motion to dismiss the complaint that was filed by the State AG at about the same time.
That means our position is, unfortunately, no different now than it was when the motions were filed last spring.
As of this writing, she has yet to respond.When/if she responds or when/if the judge rules on the pending motions we will share that information with all of you immediately.There is another issue that I wanted to bring to your attention. Recently the Ohio Attorney General and the Department of Jobs and Family Services have begun to attempt to collect what they perceive to be overpayments to pandemic unemployment recipients. If you have received such a notice please make sure you note that there is a short period of time to appeal this finding.  Our expectation is that many of the repayment notices are inaccurate.If you’ve received one of these notices in error and are willing to speak out about your situation please email me at [email protected] and I will connect you with folks at Policy Matters.Here is the Alert that we recently shared on our Facebook Page from Policy Matters Ohio:ALERT:
Ohio has begun retroactively denying unemployment benefits to some Ohioans who received them during the COVID-19 pandemic and demanding repayment.Did you get Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)? The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) recently began sending email alerts to some recipients telling them to check their PUA account for new notices. These notices may say you fraudulently received PUA and have to repay those benefits—including interest and late penalties—because you didn’t provide required identity documents. If you received PUA during the pandemic:
1. Check your email and PUA accounts immediately. ODJFS will send the alert to the email address you used when you applied for Unemployment Assistance. To log into your PUA account, visit:https://pua.unemployment.ohio.gov/Claimant/Core/Login.ASPX
2. If you did get a notice, file an appeal by the deadline and include a copy of the required identity documents. For what documents are required, see: https://jfs.ohio.gov/…/identityverificationchecklist
3. File your appeal online at https://puaa.jfs.ohio.gov OR call 877-574-0015 to provide the needed information. Call volume is often high, so we recommend filing online if possible. You can visit your local Ohio Means Jobs office if you need to access a computer.
4. If you miss the deadline, don’t panic! You can still file an appeal, but you may need to prove you had good cause for missing the deadline.
5. Once you file your appeal, watch for new notices in your PUA account and check your mail for a Scheduling Notice with a hearing date.
6. You have the right to be represented on an appeal and should arrange representation as soon as possible. If you cannot afford a private attorney, your local legal aid society or legal services program may be able to provide help at no cost. Contact your local legal aid office at 1-866-LAW-OHIO (1-866-529-6446) or visit https://www.ohiolegalhelp.org to search the legal aid directory.
7. If you didn’t get a notice, be sure to check your email frequently and log into your PUA account to read any new notices.
Marc

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DannLaw founder Marc Dann
Attorney Marc Dann

I am pleased to announce that attorneys Kurt Jones, Alisa Adams and Andy Engel as well as paralegals Maureen Dial, Madellyn Brown, and Ivona Gates who were formerly associated with Advocate Attorneys LLP have joined DannLaw and will now represent their consumer arbitration clients as members of our outstanding legal team.

The seamless transition of the Advocate staff to DannLaw will ensure that clients continue to work with the attorneys and support staff they know and trust and that cases will proceed without undue disruption or delay.

We welcome our new colleagues, and we look forward to providing their clients with exceptional level of professional service that has made DannLaw one of the nation’s leading consumer protection and class action litigation law firms.

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The following is an abridged version of a story by Hayley Fowler that was published by Law 360…

Law360 (July 14, 2023, 4:11 PM EDT) — Bank of America NA has been hit with a proposed class action alleging it opened credit cards without customers’ knowledge to meet sales goals, just days after the bank agreed to a nine-figure settlement with federal regulators over alleged transgressions involving its credit card rewards and overdraft policies.
DannLaw founder Marc DannDAnnLaw filed the suit in North Carolina federal court on behalf of Ohio resident Nadine Ballard and a proposed class of consumers who said they unknowingly had credit card accounts opened in their names between 2012 and 2022, which allegedly resulted in penalties for unpaid fees and impacted their credit scores. In the suit DannLaw and Ms. Ballard said the accounts were opened by employees desperate to reach “unrealistic sales quotas” as part of a money-grabbing scheme by the Charlotte-based bank.
“BoA allowed this fraud to fester for over a decade, profiting off of the harm it directly caused to the consumers who trusted BoA,” the lawsuit states. The complaint in the case, maybe viewed and downloaded here: Bank of America credit card scam complaint.
Ballard’s complaint comes on the heels of a collective $150 million in fines levied against Bank of America on Tuesday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
About $30 million of those penalties was attributed to the bank’s alleged failure to provide credit card sign-up reward bonuses as advertised and opening unauthorized credit card accounts to meet sales targets, which have since been eliminated.
Bank of America did not admit any wrongdoing in agreeing to pay the fines, and the CFPB said only a “small percentage” of the bank’s new credit card accounts opened between 2012 and 2020 were found to be unauthorized.
Still, Ballard said Thursday that the bank’s alleged “fee generating scheme” has impacted “many thousands of members.”
“Until the CFPB took decisive action against BoA, BoA had every incentive to continue this illegal conduct because it is a fee-generating machine that produced extraordinary profits for the bank at the expense of its consumers,” she said.
According to the complaint, Ballard discovered in March that the bank had previously opened an allegedly unauthorized account in her name. Since then, Ballard said she has “spent substantial time to correct her credit report as well as to lodge complaints with the appropriate government agencies, including the CFPB.”
Ballard blamed Bank of America’s “intense sales pressure” for the allegedly unauthorized accounts, which she said often required employees to pull consumer reports to determine a customer’s eligibility.
Bank of America allegedly knew about the scheme and took steps to hide it, she said, saying the bank was fully “aware its quotas are unrealistic for employees during normal working hours.”
Oftentimes customers only found out about the accounts when Bank of America asked them to update their account information, new debit or credit cards arrived in the mail, or missing deposits showed up in the allegedly unauthorized account, Ballard said.
As a result, customers were allegedly forced to pay monthly service fees, suffered damages to their credit reports and had to pay for identity theft protection, the lawsuit states.
“As a result of opening new accounts, BoA was able to inflate the key metrics regarding new account holder information in its [U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission] filings, and — equally troubling — was able to accrue associated fees from those accounts opened without consumer consent,” DannLaw claims in the suit.
Thursday’s complaint asserts claims for unjust enrichment and violations of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and North Carolina’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
Ballard is seeking class certification, treble damages, restitution, attorney fees and pre- and post-judgment interest.
“The brazen way that Bank of America encouraged and allowed fraud to be committed against perhaps millions of its customers is one of the greatest travesties in the history of American business,” Marc Dann told Law 360. “…we look forward to holding the bank and its officers and board members accountable.”
In addition to DannLaw, Ms. Ballard and the proposed class are represented by Scott C. Harris of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC, Israel David and Blake Hunter Yagman of Israel David LLC, James M. Evangelista of Evangelista Worley LLC, Jennifer Czeisler of JKC Law LLC, and Marc E. Dann and Brian D. Flick of Dann Law Firm.

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Dann Law

Hello and Happy Spring. I’m reaching out today to provide our clients and friends with updates about several pending cases, new investigations and an exciting new addition to the DannLaw legal team. 

First I would like to introduce and welcome Jeff Crossman to DannLaw. Jeff, who recently joined DannLaw after serving in the Ohio House and running for Ohio Attorney General, will be litigating complex class action, mortgage servicing, and corporate/business cases. 

Picture of Jeff CrossmanJeff brings more than two decades of legal experience to Dann Law.  During his career, he has represented a variety of clients in complex matters, successfully resolving disputes for both individuals and businesses ranging from small startups to national corporations.  Jeff has served as an associate with a prominent national law firm, as in-house legal counsel for multiple national companies, and recently served two terms as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives where he gained invaluable experience in public policy, government, and changes made to the legal system. The sum of Jeff’s experience has given him a unique perspective and a deep understanding of the legal landscape, which he leverages to achieve the best outcomes for his clients.

Jeff believes that every client deserves high-quality legal representation personalized to fit the client’s needs, and he is committed to achieving the best possible outcomes for each and every one of his clients.

Education

  • B.A. University of Mount Union
  • M.A., University of Akron
  • J.D., Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, magna cum laude

Bar Admissions

  • State of Ohio
  • Federal District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
  • Pending: Federal District Court for the Southern District of Ohio 
  • 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

 Mortgage Servicing Litigation

Our Mortgage Servicing Litigation team, which includes Dan Solar, Michael Smith, Saher Chaudrey, Javier Merino, Brian Flick, Kim White, and Karen Ortiz, continue to bring groundbreaking cases on behalf of homeowners involved in disputes with their mortgage servicers:

  1. Delays  and mistakes made by servicers assisting homeowners who took advantage of Covid Related Mortgage Payment Forbearance provided by the CARES Act and the American Recovery Act.  As a result of these errors, many borrowers exited forbearance with higher interest rates than they should have and some are facing unnecessary and unwarranted foreclosure actions. 
  2. Homeowners put at risk because servicers mishandled tax, insurance, and other escrow payments.. 
  3. Problems that have occurred when mortgage servicing is transferred from one company to another. This problem is especially prevalent when borrowers and services are engaged in loss mitigation activities. 
  4. Accounting problems following the successful completion of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. 
  5. Violations of Ohio’s Residential Mortgage Loan Act. Dannlaw has obtained numerous consumer/borrower favorable court decisions involving servicers who failed to abide by changes in the Ohio Law that protects borrowers.

Foreclosure Defense

As foreclosure protections sunset our Foreclosure Defense team led by Whitney Kaster with support from Amanda Severt, Karen Ortiz and Roberto Rivera are litgating cases and developing thoughtful and innovative loss mitigation and legal strategies that will enable our clients to stay in their homes. If you are or may be about to enter foreclosure, please contact form or call us at 216-373-0539. We are here to help.

Class Action Lawsuits 

The members of our class action practice group, Brian Flick, Javier Merino, Andy Wolf, Jeff Crossman, Saher Chaudrey,Kim White and Liza Marigliano are pleased and proud to report that they have worked with co-counsel to obtain preliminary approval of several class action cases across the United States in the past several months.  There are active claim deadlines in the following cases.  If you believe you are a member of the class in one or some of these actions, we encourage you to visit the case settlement websites to review the terms of settlement and if appropriate files a claim: .

Nationstar

In the Class Action case against Nationstar Mortgage and payment processor ACI we successfully negotiated a $9 million settlement that is set for final approval on May 31, 2023 in the Federal District Court in North Carolina. You still have  time to submit claims if Nationstar pulled money from your bank account without permission in April of 2021. Visit this website to make a claim https://achloanpaymentlitigation.com/.

Michigan Ave. Immediate Care

Michigan Avenue Immediate Care  has agreed to a $900,000 settlement fund for people whose personal information was exposed to the dark web as the result of a data breach. If you were a patient of the of that Chicago medical practice file a claim here:  https://www.maicincident.com/

Parker Hannifin

We’ve reached a favorable $1.75 Million  settlement for present and past employees of Parker Hannifin who were impacted by a data breach. If you ever worked at Parker Hannifin please follow this link to learn more and file a claim www.phdatasettlement.com.

We are also investigating and litigating several other significant class action cases including:

Pricing Fraud by Dollar General.  DannLaw has filed cases against Dollar General in Ohio, New York and New Jersey based on allegations that prices listed for items on shelves are lower than prices charged at the register. If you live anywhere in the United States and believe you have been overcharged by Dollar General or any other retailer, please contact our office by completing and submitting our contact form or calling 216-373-0539.

Salmonella Poisoning in Jif Peanut Butter 

The FDA, along with CDC and state and local partners are investigating a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Senftenberg infections linked to certain Jif brand peanut butter products produced at the J.M. Smucker Company facility in Lexington, Kentucky. If you believe you have been impacted by the outbreak please complete and submit our contact form or call us at 216-373-0539.

Traffic Camera Violations in the City of Girard

Tickets were wrongly issued to drivers along Rt 80 in Girard Ohio

Impact Cases

Federal Government’s failure to compensate victims of  “Snap Skimming”  DannLaw recently filed a case in Ohio against the United States Department of Agriculture regarding the agency’s failure to reimburse Ohioans whose SNAP benefits have been “skimmed” by unknown third parties beginning in January of 2022. 

Skimming occurs when criminals use a device placed over a point-of-sale card reader to steal information from payment cards like SNAP EBT and cash assistance cards. That means SNAP or cash assistance benefits may have been stolen with the cardholder’s knowledge.

If you believe you have been a victim of SNAP theft, please please complete and submit our contact form or call us at 216-373-0539.

Racial Discrimination in Mortgage Lending by Wells Fargo We have assumed a  leadership role in investigating allegations that Wells denied  borrowers of color mortgage financing at a rate almost double that of white borrowers.. 

Ohio PUA Unemployment Benefits

In Bowling v. Dewine we continue to pursue $900 million in fully federally-funded COVID-19 supplemental unemployment insurance benefits the DeWine administration callously denied Ohioans who were left jobless as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Data Breach Cases

We are also bringing Class Actions for Data Breaches against the following Companies:

Last Pass/GoTo Technologies

Carrington Mortgage and Alvaria, Inc.

Snap Finance–Brian Flick has been appointed co-lead counsel

Key Bank/KeyBank Mortgage/Fulton Bank/Overby-Seawell

Samsung

Bet MGM (Where Javier Merino is taking a Lead Role)

Lakeview Loan Servicing

If you or someone you know has been impacted by these data breaches please complete and submit our contact form or call us at 216-373-0539.

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Liner Legal is a disability law firm, serving clients in the state of Ohio and beyond. Our team specializes in Social Security Disability, Long-term Disability, Short-term Disability, Deaf Discrimination, and more. One of the most common questions clients ask our staff is; How do I win my disability case? While each case is very different, Liner Legal Managing Partner Michael Liner wants to share his top seven secrets to help you win a disability case!

Michael Liner’s 7 Secrets to Winning Social Security Disability Benefits:

Tip 1: Communicate your functional limitations to your doctors
Michael says it is important to let your doctors know how your disability impacts your everyday life. For example, if you are unable to stand for long periods of time, let your doctor know how that changes your day, such as struggling to cook dinner or clean or house.
Tip 2: Adhere to deadlines
Make sure you are aware of and are adhering to all deadlines in your disability case. For example, after receiving your denial, you only have 60 days to appeal.
Tip 3: Adhere to your medical treatments
Michael says that Social Security is eager to deny people if they are not following the orders of their doctors. So it is very important that you comply with the treatment recommendations from your providers in order to receive disability benefits.
Tip 4: Get Medical Source Statements from your doctors
Have your doctors document your disability and fill out Medical Source Statements for your disability case. Michael says the key to winning a disability case is in the medical records, so make sure everything is documented by your doctor.
Tip 5: Abstain from drugs & alcohol
Social Security is eager to say that conditions are caused by, worsened or exacerbated by substance use. That’s why Michael says abstinence from drugs and alcohol can be very helpful and ensures there’s no way that Social Security says that you are disabled because of a substance problem.
Tip 6: List ALL of your conditions on your application
Michael says it is important to list all of your conditions on your disability application, not just the most serious condition/s. Sometimes one of the lesser conditions, or a combination of lesser conditions can be the reason that your disability benefits are approved. Again, the key to winning benefits is in the medical records.
Tip 7: Carefully fill out forms from Social Security
Social Security sends a lot of different paperwork to be filled out. It is very important that when filling out paperwork, you’re actually thinking about the questions that they’re asking and carefully answering them. Rushing through paperwork from Social Security can be very harmful in the long run.

BONUS TIP: Call Liner Legal!
Many times, a disability lawyer can be the difference in winning the disability benefits that you deserve. At Liner Legal, we offer free consultations to all potential clients. Please reach out if you have questions about your disability case.

The Disability Warriors at Liner Legal are here to help you win the disability benefits you deserve. When Liner Legal takes on your case, you become more than just our client; you become a part of our family. And we always look after our family. As disability lawyers in Cleveland, Ohio and surrounding areas, we pledge to help our clients face their daily challenges brought on by the inability to work and do everything possible to help restore normalcy to their lives. With us, you are a client for life. For more information on Liner Legal and to contact us, visit our website at LinerLegal.com.