Texas Attorney General as Debt Collection Act Enforcer and Practitioner: Post-Judgment Amicus Curiae Brief in State of Texas vs. Samara Portfolio Management, LLC, et al, in the 80th District Court of Texas, Harris County, Texas

Wolfgang P. Hirczy de Mino
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Abstract

In 2017 Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, obtained a judgment for more than $25 million dollars in a civil enforcement action against Houston Attorney Joseph O. Onwuteaka, his debt buying company, Samara Portfolio Management, LLC, and his law firm, for violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices—Consumer Protection Act (DTPA);—mostly for Onwuteaka’s practice of suing and obtaining default judgments against hapless consumers/defendants in a county in which they did not live (Harris County). Ironically, the Texas Attorney General engages in the very same conduct in suing former Texas college students and their co-signers on defaulted student loans made by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Loans (THECB). He files all such collection actions in Travis County (Austin, TX) regardless where the student loan obligors may live, and additionally engages in deceptive or otherwise dubious practices with respect to disclosure of interest accrual on some loans and hefty add-on attorney’s fees in most or all of them. The Travis County venue for THECB education loan collection suits was fixed by the Texas Legislature, while the other practices are discretionary. The hefty attorney’s fees are heaped on because student loan debtors are considered a suitable revenue source to help fund operations of the Office of the Attorney General. As of April 2018, the AG enforcement case against Onwuteaka et al remains on hold in the Fourteenth Court of Appeals, pending performance of a settlement agreement.
德克萨斯州总检察长作为债务催收法的执行者和实践者:德克萨斯州诉Samara Portfolio Management, LLC, et al案判决后法庭之友简报,在德克萨斯州哈里斯县第80地方法院
2017年,德克萨斯州总检察长肯·帕克斯顿(Ken Paxton)在针对休斯顿律师Joseph O. Onwuteaka、他的债务购买公司Samara Portfolio Management, LLC及其律师事务所的民事执法行动中获得了2500多万美元的判决。因为他违反了《德州欺骗性贸易行为消费者保护法》(DTPA),主要是因为Onwuteaka在他们不居住的县(哈里斯县)对不幸的消费者/被告提起诉讼并获得缺席判决。具有讽刺意味的是,德克萨斯州司法部长在起诉前德克萨斯州大学生及其共同签署人拖欠德克萨斯高等教育协调委员会贷款(THECB)的学生贷款时,也采取了同样的行为。他在特拉维斯县(德克萨斯州奥斯汀)提交了所有这些催收行动,而不管学生贷款债务人可能住在哪里,此外,他还在披露一些贷款的应计利息和大部分或全部贷款的巨额附加律师费方面从事欺骗或其他可疑的行为。特拉维斯县受理欧洲中央银行教育贷款催收诉讼的地点是由德克萨斯州立法机关确定的,而其他做法则是酌情决定的。高额的律师费之所以会被支付,是因为学生贷款债务人被认为是帮助总检察长办公室(Office of The attorney General)运作的合适收入来源。截至2018年4月,针对Onwuteaka等人的AG强制执行案件仍在第十四上诉法院搁置,等待和解协议的履行。
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