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DannLaw Update, September 2023

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Dann Law

The DannLaw legal team has been incredibly busy this summer. We have opened more than 100 new class action cases and Brian Flick, I and the members of our Class Action Litigation Practice Group have been appointed to leadership roles in a number of very significant cases including a mortgage discrimination case against Wells Fargo and actions seeking compensation for consumers impacted by data breaches that occurred at Snap Finance, Last Pass, Carrington Mortgage, Key Bank, Overby-Seawell, payday lender Advance America, Bet MGM, and others.

We also want to welcome two outstanding attorneys, Kurt Jones and Alisa Adams, to DannLaw. Their addition to our stellar lineup of legal talent will enable us to represent thousands of people involved in consumer arbitration cases. We invite anyone who is facing arbitration with a bank, credit card company, lender, or other entity to contact our office today. Kurty, Alissa, and our highly talented and experienced team ready, willing, and more than able to fight for you.  

We’ve moved and expanded! Our Columbus-area office has moved to 25 North Street in Dublin, Ohio. The phone number is 877-475-8100.  The new location features ample  parking and is more accessible access for our clients and DL attorneys from around the state. We have also opened an office in California at 26100 Towne Centre Drive, in Foothill Ranch. The phone number is 213-306-7210

Our offices in Cleveland, Cincinnati, New York and New Jersey have not moved and are located at:

Firm Practice Area Update:

Loss Mitigation and Foreclosure Defense: 

We continue to assist homeowners who are transitioning from Covid-era mortgage Forbearance programs to permanent loan modifications that make mortgage payments more affordable. If you are currently attempting to negotiate a loan mod and need assistance, please contact us right away. Our knowledgeable and experienced Foreclosure Defense team, which includes Whitney Kaster, Andy Engel, Javier Merino, Karen Ortiz, Amanda Severt and Roberto Rivera, are here to help homeowners in Ohio, New Jersey, and New York. 

In Ohio and New Jersey, two states with extremely high foreclosure rates, our team is fighting hard every day to enable our clients to stay in their homes. If a foreclosure action has been filed against you or someone you know, please remember that involving us early substantially increases our prospects for success. So don’t delay, let us begin securing your financial future today.

We’ve also encountered instances in which mortgage servicers are slow-walking responses to or are refusing to accept money made available to homeowners under the federal government’s Covid-era “Save the Dream” program. If you applied for these funds and were rejected because of something your servicer did or did not do, please contact us right away so we can work to rectify the situation and help secure the funds you need and deserve. 

Litigation against Mortgage Servicers: 

Dan Solar, Mike Smith, Javier Merino, Saher Chaudhary, and Kimberly White from our Mortgage Litigation Team continue to bring groundbreaking individual and class action cases against mortgage loan servicers that mistreat, mislead, and abuse borrowers and homeowners. Contact DannLaw right away if you have encountered any of the following issues: 

  1. Mistakes in calculating escrow payments. We have sued servicers that failed to pay taxes for homeowners even though they have collected the funds needed to make the payments from homeowners, Paid taxes on the wrong property, or placed insurance on homeowners who were already insured. 
  2. Failure to properly apply payments or adding charges that are not warranted under the note.
  3. Failure to follow investor or government rules, failure to work diligently to resolve issues, or failure to properly process paperwork when evaluating loan modification applications. applications.
  4. Mistakes made by servicers in transitioning borrowers from Covid forbearance to performing loans. 

Consumer Class Actions:

Wells FargoBringing class action lawsuits on behalf of consumers and other parties damaged by corporations, banks, lenders, and other entities is the fastest growing part of our practice. If you believe a company, no matter how large or small, is systematically cheating you and other customers, please give us the opportunity to investigate and determine if class action claims exist. Our Class Action Practice Group which includes Javier Merino, Brian Flick, Andrew Wolf, Jeff Crossman, Saher Chaudhary, Marita Ramirez, Kim White and Liza Marigliano has filed significant cases against these and other companies:

  1. PHH Mortgage for charging “pay-to-play” fees
  2. Wells Fargo for discriminating against people of color seeking mortgages
  3. Failure to disclose itemize documentation fees in car sales contracts.
  4. Bank of America for opening fake accounts in customers’ names 
  5. Walmart for violating its own refund policy. 
  6. Dollar General for charging more at the register than the price indicated on the shelf 

Data Breach and Identity Theft: 

Far too many companies have failed to adequately protect their customers’ and/or employees’ confidential personal information. As a result, cyberthieves have been able to access and utilize victims’ social security numbers, medical records, bank account information, and other sensitive data at an alarming rate. 

DannLaw attorneys Brian Flick, Marita Ramirez, Javier Merino, and the other members of the firm’s data privacy team are leading the effort to hold companies accountable by bringing class actions cases that force them to compensate people whose data has been stolen and sold.   If you receive a notice that your information has been part of a data breach, please reach out to us right away so that we can take steps to protect you and your family. 

 

Consumer Arbitrations: 

While we are involved in dozens of large cases, DannLaw also specializes in helping individual consumers seek and secure justice and just compensation. Our Consumer Arbitration Practice Goup led by attorneys Alisa Adams and Kurt Jones and paralegals Madellyn Brown, Ivona Gates and Maureen Dial has developed an effective and efficient process for arbitrating consumer claims against companies whose contracts prevent customers from suing in court or bringing class action cases. If you or someone you know is involved in a dispute with companies like Paypal, Chime, Cash App, American Home Shield, Choice Home Warranty, and others that force consumers to resolve claims via arbitration, our experts are here to help.

And, remember this: we don’t get paid unless we win your arbitration case.

Significant Developments in Ongoing Cases

Unemployment PUA supplement case:  We are still waiting for the judge to rule on the Governor’s Motion to Dismiss.

Driver’s License Lamination Case: Is set for trial later this year and notices have been mailed to over 3,000,000 class members. 

Mill Creek Park Deer: We have filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the scheduled hunt in the park.

Current Class Actions with Claim in Periods

If Nationstar Mortgage wrongly withdrew money from your account, we invite you to make a claim here: https://achloanpaymentlitigation.com/

Thanks for taking the time to read our most recent update and as always, DannLaw is here to serve you.

Class action suit against Ohio BMV over bogus lamination fees continues, plaintiffs who received postcards don’t need to do anything to remain part of the class

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If you received a postcard regarding the Madyda v. BMV case, it is because you are one of the people who paid a fee to have your driver’s licensed laminated by a deputy registrar between 2018 and 2020, even though the deputy registrars were not performing the service.

That makes you a member of the class of plaintiffs in the lawsuit DannLaw has filed against the BMV and the state of Ohio. If you would like to remain in the class and receive a portion of any funds or other compensation we recover on behalf of the plaintiffs you do not need to do anything. If you prefer to bring your own claim against the BMV, the postcard contains instructions for opting out.

Again, you do not need to do anything if you want to continue to be a member of the class. DannLaw will provide regular updates as the case proceeds.

Here is a detailed description of the case:

DannLaw files class action suit against Ohio Bureau of Motor vehicles to recover $3 million in bogus fees charged by deputy registrars

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Since July 2, 2018, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) has allowed the state’s 200 deputy registrars to charge people obtaining or renewing driver’s licenses or state-issued I.D.s a $1.50 lamination fee even though the registrars were no longer producing—or laminating—the cards on site. As a result, an estimated two million Ohioans have been charged $3 million for a service that was not performed.

Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio, told the Columbus Dispatch the registrars should not be pocketing the fee. “Clearly, the registrars should not be charging for something they are not providing … that’s not fair. Many of us don’t think about a buck fifty, it’s not a big deal. But it is a big deal when you think about being charged extra fees for no reason. We want to spend our money on what we expected.”

Attorney Marc Dann, founder of the Cleveland-based consumer protection law firm DannLaw agrees with Ms. Turcer. And, if the messages that have been pouring into the firm’s Facebook page are any indication, so do people who paid the bogus fee. “We posted an item on our Facebook page asking anyone who has renewed their license or state I.D. since last July to contact us,” the former Ohio attorney general said. “The response was overwhelming. Those who paid the fee were outraged. They want their money back and they want the state to stop ripping people off.”

Today the legal team at DannLaw took the first step toward recovering the unwarranted fees by filing a class action suit against the BMV in the Ohio Court of Claims. The suit asks the Court to award anyone who paid the lamination fee $1.50 plus interest. The complaint may be read/downloaded here:Madyda Alexander 2019 03 19 Complaint – Lamination Fee INITIAL DRAFT (002)

“While the dollar amount on a per-person basis may be small, there’s nothing trivial about the BMV allowing the registrars to pocket $3 million for doing nothing,” Atty. Dann said. “If everyone shrugs their shoulders and says ‘it’s only a buck fifty’ does that mean it’s ok for the state to grab five dollars or ten dollars from its citizens? Where do you draw the line? At its core, this case isn’t about the $1.50, it’s about holding government officials accountable for their actions. That’s the best way to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again.”

According to Atty. Joe Romano of Bay Village, Ohio who is serving as co-counsel on the case the overcharges stem from the fact that in order to comply with federal regulations the BMV itself rather than the registrars began producing and mailing the licenses and I.D. cards last July. “Apparently, and this is something we hope to learn more about as the case progresses, neither the deputy registrars nor the staff at the BMV noticed that people were still being charged the $1.50 lamination fee even though the registrars weren’t laminating a darn thing,” he said.

An important message from DannLaw Founder Marc Dann

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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.

DannLaw sues BofA on behalf of customers over fake accounts 

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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.

DannLaw Client Update for May 2023…

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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.

State files Brief in PUA case, DannLaw will respond soon

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On February 21, the State filed its Combined Brief in Response to the Court’s January 30, 2023, Entry, Response to our Motion for Leave to File the Consolidated Class Action Complaint, and Motion to Dismiss the Consolidated Class Action Complaint. You may review it here: Bowling MTD FINAL (1)

The next step is the filing of our combined Brief in Response to the Court’s January 30, 2023, Entry, Reply in Support of our Motion for Leave, and Memorandum in Opposition to the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the First Consolidated Class Action Complaint. Our brief is due by March 21 and we look forward to sharing it with all of you.

We cannot thank each of you enough for all of thoughts, support, comments, and patience as we continue along with you on this journey. We will keep you updated once our brief is filed.