CINCINNATI (Legal Newsline) — A woman alleges a California-based debt settlement and validation company failed to pay off her debt and charged substantial upfront fees.
Kathlene Scarlett filed a complaint Nov. 11 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio against The Litigation Practice Group PC alleging violation of the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act and Debt Adjustment Companies Act and other claims.
Scarlett, according to her complaint, enrolled in Litigation Practice Group's credit repair and debt elimination program in September of 2021. She claims in October of 2021, she began paying the defendant $254.38 per month for services that resulted in no reduction of her total debt owed.
"Based upon the representations made by LPG in the phone calls, Plaintiff believed by enrolling in the program, she could eliminate their overall debt by disputing the validity of the debts under the statutes of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act," the suit says.
Scarlett further claims the defendant charges "substantial upfront fees" which caused her indebtedness to actually increase and that it made no payments to her creditors, which resulted in a lawsuit being filed against her by one of her creditors. She alleges the defendant falsely represented that mailing "verification packages" to her creditors would eliminate her debt and that they would be subject to any collection efforts and lawsuits under their program.
Scarlett claims the defendant knew its business was "legally unsound and nonsensical," that it drew $2,600 in fees from her over a period of one year and that it falsely advised her to stop paying her debts, which allowed interest and late fees to accumulate.
Scarlett seeks monetary relief, trial by jury and all other just relief. She is represented by Jeremiah Heck and David Schultz of Luftman Heck & Associates LLP in Dublin, Ohio.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio case number 2:22-CV-4106