Daniels Law Offices, PC

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Daniels Law Offices, P.C. is a collections firm based in Boston, Massachusetts specializing in skip-tracing and asset location. It has previously operated under three different names: Daniels & Cronin, Law Offices of Richard Daniels, and Daniels & Daniels and employs three attorneys: Richard S. Daniels, Jr. Donna Daniels and Karen J. Wisniowski.^[1]

[edit] Controversies

Daniels Law Offices, P.C. was the defendant in a United States Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals case (Case No. 00-20480 for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act in relation to the illegal collection of a student loan^[2].

The plaintiff, Caroline Hennessey, had previously accepted the district court's judgment against Daniels Law Offices, but the district court did not order Daniels to pay the Hennessey's legal fees. The plaintiff sought to recover her legal fees and appealed in federal appellate court.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals awarded the plaintiff attorney's fees in addition to the judgement awarded by the district court. The appellate court found that the settlement offered by Daniels Law Offices was ambiguous and that it is a "longstanding principle of contract law that, absent parol evidence to the the meaning of an ambiguous term, ambiguous terms are construed against the drafter of the contract", citing Webb v. James, 147 F.3d 617, 623 (7th Cir. 1998).^[3]

Daniels Law Offices, P.C. is also the defendant in a federal class action lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Massachusetts for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.^[4] According to the 2003 complaint, Daniels Law Offices threatened to have a debtor arrested for failing to pay a debt and improperly communicated directly with individuals represented by legal counsel.

On May 15, 2007, a class action suit was filed against Daniels Law Offices, P.C. and Richard S. Daniels for allegedly tacking on a percentage based on attorney fees before the money was collected and adding the fee to the principal, instead of calculating "reasonable fees" based on the lawyer's time. See Socheata Som v. Daniels Law Offices P.C., No. 07-40143 (D. Mass.). ^[5]

On July 12, 2007, another class action suit was filed against Daniels Law Offices, P.C. and Richard S. Daniels for alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection Act. See Delehanty v. Daniels Law Offices, P.C.

[edit] Better Business Bureau

Daniels Law Offices, PC is rated as "Unsatisfactory" by the Better Business Bureau^[6] and is not accredited by the Bureau.

[edit] References