PORTLAND, Ore. (Legal Newsline) – A Washington County, Oregon consumer alleges he was unlawfully charged an annual percentage rate of 527.4 percent by a lending company on a small loan.
Richard Lee Smith Jr. filed a complaint on behalf of himself and persons similarly situated on Sept. 11 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Portland Division against Big Picture Loans LLC, Matt Martorello and Ascension Technologies LLC, formerly known as Bellicose Capital LLC, alleging that they violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and Oregon’s lending statutes.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that on Dec. 11, 2017, he obtained a $1,500 loan from Big Picture Loans with bi-weekly payments of $337.91. Over a period of about four months, alleges he paid a total of $4,353.69 for the repayment of the $1,500 loan because the annual percentage rate on the loan was 527.4 percent.
The plaintiff alleges the defendants made high-interest loans under the Big Picture name under a "rent-a-tribe" business model with the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians in an attempt "to insulate themselves from legal liability for their usurious lending practices," the suit states.
The plaintiff holds Big Picture Loans LLC, Martorello and Ascension Technologies LLC responsible because the defendants allegedly did not have a consumer finance license permitting them to make loans in Oregon and the loans included an interest rate in excess of the enforceable rate in Oregon.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks certification for this matter to proceed as a class action, declaratory relief, injunctive relief, actual damages, treble damages, and punitive damages, plus attorneys' fees and costs of suit; and other and further relief as the court deems proper. He is represented by Steve D. Larson and Steven C. Berman of Stoll Stoll Berne Lokting & Shlachter PC in Portland; and Michael A. Caddell, Cynthia B. Chapman, John B. Scofield Jr. and Amy E. Tabor of Caddell & Chapman in Houston, Texas.
U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Portland Division case number 3:18-cv-01651-AC