JUST TO UPDATE YOU ALL:


I went to the bank the other day and both my joint savings & checking was negative $3850.00-EACH!!! When I went to the bank manager he said a legal firm had froze my account for those amounts. When we called the firm, they could not even find me in their system. I had to call the bank and they told me it was for Captial One. I had owned this card 6 years ago, in my maiden name from Captial One for the whole amount of $458!! That was the balance when I lost my job, and to be honest, I forgot about it. The lawyer's firm said I have to pay $1900 for intrest and late fees, but they DOUBLED the amount (on both accounts so I am in debt for $7,600!!!) The attorney's office of Forster and Garbus said they they attempted numerous contacts and tried to serve me with the Order to Appear! When I inquired why I have not been contacted by Captial One or her firm for the past 6 years, she gave me some strange address they had for me. I told her I never lived there. They said well they got that address from the US Postal Service that my PO Box was registered to that address. When I called the local Post Office and they pulled my card, they gave me an old address I used to live at, but it wasn't the one the Lawyer gave me! I asked the Post Master how she got this address and he said he had "NO IDEA!!" I am a registered NY Sate voter and have utilities in my name. They could not find me?? I had to pay them $400 to get my accounts unfrozen, but I now have $600 in bounced check charges.

THAT WAS MY ORIGINAL COMPLAINT


I have since found out:
1) They attempted to serve me three times at a home where I know the people personally. A husband and wife live there. The wife is an attorney and the husband is the former DA for my town. They never got served or a notice. The Process Srver put down dates and Times. They can attest to the fact, as officers of the Court that they were both home on the dates the service was attempted.
2) The affidavid of service states that the process server asked a neighbor and listed the "neighbor's" address. I went to the local tax office. There is no house on that street with the "neighbor's" address. Nor is their a "neighbor" with that name who lives on the street.
3) We are a 5 towns small claims court district. They filed the motion in the wrong jursidiction.
4)When the local police detective contacted the attorney's firm to find the process server they said "they would have to find him". That has been 3 week and they have not returned his phone calls or written requests.

PLAESE IF ANYONE HAS COMPLAINTS OR ANY INFO ABOUT FORSTER AND GARBUS in Farmingdale, NY... LET ME KNOW!

So you have grounds to get the judgement vacated on imporoper service. You may have a countersuit against them for your costs.

Thanks... do I sue in small calims or in civil or criminal for fraud if there is no process server?

If you are suing for your costs, go with small claims. You might consider talking to the DA about fraud charges.

This is exactly the same thing thast happened to me. I am looking forward to speaking with an attorney about my Christmas joy about having my account frozen. It's time to give Foster and Garbus my version of Christmas joy in the form of legal payback. They are low lives!

I am currently having problems with Forster & Garbus. I intend to contact the NYS Attorney General regarding Forster & Garbus practices. Please contact me if you have information on Forster & Garbus.

I have complaint on this law firm, too! I am paying my debt since nov 2008 and just last week I received a summon from the sheriff for income execution! In jan, the form demanded for an increase in my payment (which I agrred) otherwise they will proceed with legal action. But still they procceded with it! I can't believe how they can get away with this unjust practice! Need someone's advice on how to deal with this. I'm planning of reporting them to FTc and the state attoney general. They have to be stopped!

ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO ANNOUNCES ARREST OF LONG ISLAND BUSINESS OWNER FOR DENYING THOUSANDS OF NEW YORKERS THEIR DAY IN COURT
American Legal Process Provided “Sewer Service” to Thousands of New Yorkers Owing Debt According to Criminal Complaint and Civil Suit; Failed to Properly Notify the Individuals That They Faced Lawsuits
As a Result, Individuals Would Unknowingly Default and Have Judgments Entered Against Them Without the Chance to Defend Themselves
LONG ISLAND, NY (April 14, 2009) - Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced criminal charges against Long Island-based American Legal Process (“ALP”) and its CEO and President William Singler for a fraudulent business scheme in which the company allegedly failed to provide proper legal notification to thousands of New Yorkers facing debt-related lawsuits, causing them unknowingly to default and have costly judgments entered against them without the chance to respond or defend themselves.

According to the court papers filed today, ALP, as a legal process server, was hired by high-volume debt collection law firms in New York to serve legal papers, usually a summons and complaint, notifying individuals that they are being sued and must answer the complaint. ALP, however, allegedly engaged in “sewer service,” where process servers take advantage of individuals facing lawsuits by failing to properly alert them and denying them the chance to respond. As a result, thousands of judgments were allegedly obtained against unsuspecting New Yorkers, many of whom first learned they were being sued when they found their bank accounts frozen or their wages garnished. ALP allegedly covered up the fraud by falsifying sworn affidavits of service in courts across New York. The Attorney General’s Office also filed a parallel civil suit against ALP and Singler seeking a court order prohibiting them from engaging in improper service of process, monetary damages and substantial penalties.

In addition, Cuomo announced his intent to sue one of ALP’s largest customers, the law firm of Forster & Garbus, for violations of New York State’s consumer protection laws. According to Cuomo, Forster & Garbus used ALP to serve over 28,000 summons and complaints across the state, but failed to supervise the company and relied on legal papers from ALP that it knew or should have known were false.

“The laws of this state are supposed to ensure that each and every New Yorker has their day in court,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “If proven to be true, the schemes detailed in the cases filed today undermined the legal rights of thousands of citizens by corrupting our legal system and abusing individuals who happened to have consumer debts."

With respect to the notice sent to the law firm of Forster & Garbus, the Attorney General said: "I am putting all law firms on notice that they are responsible for the conduct of the companies they use to serve complaints and other legal documents. Law firms cannot turn a blind-eye to abuses perpetrated on their behalf.”

Legal process servers are hired by law firms to serve legal papers, usually a summons and complaint, which notify individuals that they are being sued. New York law explicitly states how summons must be served upon individuals facing legal action. A process server can deliver the summons directly to the person being sued; can deliver the summons to a substitute person of suitable age and discretion at the place of business or the home of the person being sued and then mail the summons; or, should the first two options be exhausted after several attempts, can nail and mail, meaning the summons is posted on the door of the home or workplace of the person being sued and the summons is mailed to them.

According to the court papers filed today, between January 2007 and October 2008, ALP claimed to have served 98,000 summons and complaints throughout New York State to New Yorkers alleged to owe debt. The majority of these were done through “nail and mail,” the method of service that is easiest to abuse. The Attorney General’s investigation revealed that thousands of legal documents were not properly served, or served at all, to the individuals they were intended for.

Furthermore, ALP allegedly attempted to cover up its unlawful business practices by falsifying documents, submitted to courts across the state, swearing that proper legal notification had been duly served upon these individuals. According to the criminal and civil complaints filed today, ALP’s conduct included:

Instances in which ALP process servers claim to have made process serving attempts in more than one place at the same time. In one particular case, a process server claimed to have been at four different addresses at precisely the same moment;
Instance in which an ALP process server claimed to have made process serving attempts that would have required him to drive more than 10,000 miles in a single day;
Instances in which ALP process servers claim to have made process serving attempts before they had actually received the summons and complaint from ALP; and
Instances in which ALP process servers claim to have made process serving attempts before the summons and complaint had actually been filed with the appropriate court.
According to the criminal complaint, Singler organized and orchestrated ALP’s fraudulent activities. He was personally responsible for notarizing thousands of legal documents submitted to the New York Courts in which his process servers purportedly swore individuals had been served, when they had not.

The civil lawsuit announced by Cuomo today charges that ALP and Singler violated multiple New York statutes by falsifying these legal documents, which were in turn used by debt-collection law firms who provided them to courts as proof that New Yorkers had been given proper legal notice of the lawsuits against them. In many instances, the individuals had not been given proper legal notice and failed to appear in court, ultimately having default judgments entered against them. The lawsuit seeks monetary damages, penalties and injunctive relief against both ALP and Singler.

The Attorney General’s letter today to Forster & Garbus provides the required five-day notice of his intent to sue the firm pursuant to NYS consumer protection law. In the same 20-month period in 2007 and 2008, Forster & Garbus used ALP to serve more than 28,000 summons and complaints throughout the state. In obtaining default judgments, Forster & Garbus submitted to courts ALP affidavits of service to show that service had been proper when in many cases it had not been. The Attorney General’s notice letter makes clear that Forster & Garbus, by failing to supervise ALP and relying on affidavits that it knew or should have known were false, has harmed the New Yorkers who were the defendants to its lawsuits, the courts, and the clients who that law firm was representing.

Attorney General Cuomo thanked the New York State Unified Court System, especially its Internal Audit Unit, for their help in the investigation, which included the review of hundreds of court files and more than 100,000 records of affidavits of service.

Ann Pfau, Chief Administrative Judge of the New York State Courts, said: “The integrity of the justice system depends upon the confidence of litigants and the public, and there can be no confidence when false affidavits of service are used to deprive parties of their right to be heard. This practice also inflicts substantial harm on individuals, subjecting them to judgments they had no opportunity to contest and imposing on them the significant collateral consequences of adverse judgments. I want to thank Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and his office for working so diligently with us to expose and bring to an end this practice, and to help restore integrity to the justice system.”

Carolyn Coffey, an attorney with MFY Legal Services, a nonprofit provider of free legal services, said: “The consequences of sewer service are profound, especially on vulnerable New Yorkers. In MFY’s 2008 report, Justice Disserved, we documented many victims of improper service who had judgments unknowingly entered against them, often to devastating effect. In one case, a disabled senior citizen who was a victim of sewer service attempted to withdraw money from his ATM to purchase medicine when he discovered his bank account was frozen. In another case, a single, working mother of two children who had no idea she had ever been sued, was buying food at a supermarket checkout counter when she learned her debit card would not work. In both cases, our clients could not pay their rent and had to borrow money for food. MFY applauds Attorney General Cuomo for taking the initiative to combat this illegal practice, especially because sewer service often injures the elderly, disabled and working poor of New York.”

ALP and Singler are both charged with Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree (a class D felony), three counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree (a class E felony), and Scheme to Defraud in the Second Degree (a class E felony). Singler is also charged with being a Notary Public committing Fraud in Office (a class A misdemeanor).

The charges are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The criminal case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Cydney Kelly under the supervision of the Richard Ernst, Deputy Bureau Chief of the Criminal Prosecutions Bureau, and Gail Heatherly, Bureau Chief of the Criminal Prosecutions Bureau. The investigation was handled by Investigator Sandra Migaj, under the supervision of Deputy Chief Investigator James Domres.

The civil lawsuit was filed today in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Erie County.

This civil lawsuit and investigation is being handled by Assistant Attorney General James Morrissey, in conjunction with the Dennis Donnelly, George Danyluk, Aric Andrejko and Dan Johnson of the Internal Audit Bureau of the New York State Unified Court System.

I have no idea where this is copied from or, for that matter, the point of posting it - and, of course, disappearing.

And to my knowledge "sewer service" is slang for saying a paper was served when in fact it was not and was dumped somewhere (as in in a sewer). Also the law on nail and mail is NOT "after several attempts." It's after THREE attempts. On the fourth, you can nail followed by mail.

I found news articles confirming Cuomo's actions against ALP. I think it is pertinent to the issues raised in this thread, even though it revives an old thread.

I do have to wonder that this was posted by someone who is posting for the first time today.

No problem and that's why you're a moderator. I just don't know how many people are going to read through this (I also saw it in the newspaper) and why person posting just didn't boil it down to the salient points.

Would like to see the source just because -

I found it on the NY Times website. But to boil it down:

ALP is being sued by NY AG Cuomo for not properly serving summons. F&G is also being sued because they were aware that ALP was doing their job.


The reason I think this is relevant is because we have seen dozens of examples of this on this site. People who all of a sudden find bank accounts frozen or wages garnished from a judgement they never knew about due to improper service. Some of those people may have been allegedly served by ALP (which operates in other areas besides NYS) and knowing about this suit may help them deal with their own judgements.

I can also sympathize with you, because a company like this can give all process servers a bad name.

This is why I think process servers should be licensed and bonded - with an exam before licensing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

I have no idea where this is copied from or, for that matter, the point of posting it - and, of course, disappearing.

And to my knowledge "sewer service" is slang for saying a paper was served when in fact it was not and was dumped somewhere (as in in a sewer). Also the law on nail and mail is NOT "after several attempts." It's after THREE attempts. On the fourth, you can nail followed by mail.

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The article I pasted here was the news release from my employer, NYS Attorney General Andrew Como. Please visit his web site and you will see it.

The point of posting it? We would welcome victims to step forward. I posted on this site after a quick Google search of "Forster and Garbus" to see what would come up. This complaint forum was number 5 on the list. As there were quite a few people asking for any information or help regarding this law firm, I posted our news release.

We welcome victims of these law firms and process servers to come forward; this is an active investigation and more firms are currently being looked at.

Disappearing? Are you for real?!

So, I guess if I only have the one post, I am unwelcome and suspect.
I won't be back again.

Sandra

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sandy211

Disappearing? Are you for real?!?

So, I guess if I only have the one post, I am unwelcome and suspect.
I won't be back again.

Sandra

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I'm sorry you feel that way, but I'm afraid you don't understand what sites like this one has to contend with. Unfortunately, we frequently get "one-hit wonders" on sites like this who have some agenda and post information without attribution and no history on the site. Because of that we become, understandably, suspicious of such posts. The press release mentioned nothing about contacting Cuomo's office. Had you simply added that you were a member of his office and was trying to attract other victims to come forward, we would have understood and the reaction would have been different.

So please understand why we reacted the way we did and that it was partially because you provided no explanation. As a NYer, I admire what your boss has done (much more than his predecessor) and hope you will use this site in the future for both personal and professional needs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sandy211

The article I pasted here was the news release from my employer, NYS Attorney General Andrew Como. Please visit his web site and you will see it.

The point of posting it? We would welcome victims to step forward. I posted on this site after a quick Google search of "Forster and Garbus" to see what would come up. This complaint forum was number 5 on the list. As there were quite a few people asking for any information or help regarding this law firm, I posted our news release.

We welcome victims of these law firms and process servers to come forward; this is an active investigation and more firms are currently being looked at.

Disappearing? Are you for real?!?

So, I guess if I only have the one post, I am unwelcome and suspect.
I won't be back again.

Sandra

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I'm not a mind reader. The rules of the site clearly state that you MUST give the source - unless, of course, you wrote it yourself. I had absolutely no way of knowing where this came from.

With some sort of heading or explanation, definitely with a rehash or run down, this would have been a very valuable posting. I question how many people on THIS site read and digested it in the form in which it was posted.

I did not see any indication that you asked for people experiencing the same problems to come forward.

(I continue to be baffled by the "several attempts" language.)

UPDATE: I received a press notice regarding this same matter today. The notice I received indicates that AG Andrew Cuomo filed criminal fraud charges against the PROCESS SERVICE FIRM, American Legal Process, and its owner/President. It is alleged that process servers submitted Affidavits of Service but did not serve the papers. The incidents alleged occurred in and around Portville, NY.

As I thought - the Law requires that a process server make three attempts to serve (different times of day) before nailing/mailing.

The process service company - AML - worked for Forster & Garbus. There is absolutely no allegation that Forster & Garbus had any part in this fraud BUT Mr. Cuomo "intends" to sue F&G on the grounds that they "knew or should have known" about the deception.

F&G had been using this process service company for approximately 18 months; therefore, service before that date is "assumed" to be legitimate and valid.

There is no indication anywhere that Mr. Cuomo is asking people to contact his office with problems concerning either firm. Instead, it appears that debtors who have found themselves in a position where a Judgment was taken without service go back to the Court which issued the Judgment, armed with this information, set the verdict aside and demand a new trial.

There is no indication what will happen to the cases that went out of Statute between the original "service" and any new service of process.

- Just to keep everyone informed.

Hello. I have a default judgement against me with Forster and Garbus which was never served. I never even received a summons. I have sent numerous debt validation letters to them certified return receipt but never received anything back. This is now on my credit rating. How can I get this removed from my credit report? Do I even have to pay the debt if they don't validate it? Who do I contact?

Here's the point of posting that: Forrest and Gump is a group of low life scum. Their whole business plan is to engage in sewer service, obtain default judgments and then garnish bank accounts. The point is that this is not an isolated event and that the AG of New York is investigating about 100,000 fraudulently obtained judgments that Forrest and Gump and several others obtained. AND the fact that the head of American Legal Process, a group they use, just pleaded guilty to serving 28,000 defendants fraudulently. I have to say... if ever there was a civil RICO claim, this is starting to look an awful lot like that.

Um... Judy, you are sorely mistaken. There is evidence out the yin yang of Forrest and Gump engaging in fraud. In fact, contrary to your assertion that there "There is absolutely no allegation that Forster & Garbus had any part in this fraud..." is not a lie because you don't know you're wrong. They do it and are investigation, among about 20 other so-called law firms, for engaging in massive litigation fraud to the tune of 100,000 fraudulently-obtained judgments. I sat in NYC Civil Court and watched a judge tell litigants who actually put them to their proof they almost never have any proof of the "lawsuits" they file. Their business plan is to file suits, engage in sewer service, obtain a default and levy bank accounts. They don't make money actually litigating cases because they know don't have even have a reasonable belief that they can prove their case, they know they can't and the courts know they can't. That is flat out a violation of Rule 130-1.1. Less than 1 out of 100 (or less) litigants put them to the test because they don't get papers until it's too late. At that point, they cannot vacate a default a judgment unless they have a meritorious defense... and try proving a negative in that case. It's nearly impossible, and I've seen it.