Why Collection Malefeasance Discipline Case Took Years

by Mike Bevel, CollectionIndustry.com

The Buffalo News turns its searing spotlight of justice on the recent case of Lenahan Law Office, and examines why it took almost two years to bring a rogue collection law firm to justice.

Danielle Lenahan had her attorney?s license suspended, and her father, also a partner with the firm, effectively had his license completely revoked for their part in a scheme where several debt collection agencies in the Buffalo, NY-area paid to use the name ?Lenaham Law Office.?

The Buffalo News feels like the case took too long, from start to finish; and that the Lenahan Law Office was allowed to continue its practice unabated for two years before finally being brought to justice.

“I never expected them [Lenahans] to get as far as they did,” Joel Castle, president of a debt collection company in Amherst, told the Buffalo News. He added that he was disappointed other agencies at federal and state levels failed to act.

“This decision did take a long time,” said William N. Lund, director of Maine’s office of consumer credit regulation. He complained to the Grievance Committee about the collectors’ “consistent pattern of illegal behavior” in the spring of 2004.

The News piece goes into greater depth, detailing each step where the process tripped itself up. You can read the entire article here.