Cavalry Lawsuits – Have they sued you?

Have you received a collection letter from Cavalry Portfolio or Cavalry SPV or Cavalry Investments?  Has a lawsuit been filed against you by Cavalry? (They often used the fine collection firms Apothaker Scian or Demetrious Tsarouhis …both are very strong collection law firms). Don’t despair, help with this legal issue is merely a phone call away.

The Cavalry family is a group of companies that buys delinquent credit card accounts to try to make a profit at the expense of unwitting consumers.  Cavalry buys large groups of allegedly defaulted credit card accounts (and sometimes various loans) for pennies on the dollar for the sole purpose of attempting to collect whatever they can on those accounts from individuals just like you. They typically buy these accounts for anywhere between 1 and 4 cents per dollar.  Yes, they do buy these accounts on the cheap.  They file dozens if not hundreds of lawsuits daily in Pennsylvania in hopes of collecting on old debt claims that have been charged off by the original creditor. What they do is perfectly legal, but that doesn’t mean that you owe them money. We take the position that you owe money only to an entity that can prove that you owe money to it. In other words, they have to prove that they actually own your account.  Cavalry SPV is often lagging in this respect. We are also aware that when Cavalry buys these accounts, they often make the purchase on an AS IS basis. This means that there are no guarantees or warranties as to the accuracy of the information that they receive from the original creditor.  This is a very big deal to you the consumer.  If the documentation that they purchase isn’t accurate, then do they even have the right to sue you?

 

So What Should I Do?

For many of the recent cases that we’ve defended, we’ve found that many of these accounts are at or very near the statute of limitations.  The statute of limitations is the time frame that someone has to file a lawsuit against you for a particular claim.  In that regard, our first piece of advice is to try to figure out, as best as you can, the date of the last payment on the account.  In most instances the starting point should be to obtain a current copy of your credit report.  We strongly suggest using www.annualcreditreport.com (this site is sponsored by the government and will provide you with a FREE copy of each of your credit reports once per year).  Once you have the credit report, contact a consumer attorney, whether it’s our firm or another.

The statute of limitations is only one defense that we attempt to use.  If the Cavalry lawsuit is within the proper time frame then we next look at other defenses.  Some of these can include standing, lack of evidence, securitization, lack of documentation, inability to prove ownership of the account, or inability to prove the amount of the claim.  We also look at the collection activities that took place prior to the lawsuit being filed.  If you happen to have received any letters or phone calls from Cavalry prior to the lawsuit, those should be reviewed for possible collection violations.  If a violation has occurred then we can use the FDCPA to file a claim against the collector.

 

What if Cavalry has filed its claim “on time”?

So, on to the litigation…  If the lawsuit is filed in the Court of Common Pleas, then our approach to defending against Cavalry is twofold. First, we defend the case based upon a lack of legal sufficiency. In general, when a party files a lawsuit in Pennsylvania, there are several issues that need to be recited in the lawsuit. In other words, facts must be established (through many documents) that tend to prove that you had a credit account, that you defaulted on it, that they are suing for the correct amount and that Cavalry has the right to sue you and collect on the alleged debt.  This is easier said than done.  Remember, Cavalry is buying hundreds if not thousands of these accounts…. it’s a lot of information that they need to be able to produce and their business model is set up with the assumption that you are not going to hire an attorney.  (Statistics show that less than 10% of those sued on a credit card case actually hire an attorney).   In my experience, I have found that the lawsuits filed by Cavalry are almost always legally insufficient at the onset of the lawsuit. We object to these lawsuits on insufficiency grounds with great success.

In the event that Cavalry is able to cure the insufficiency objections, we then move on to defending the claim on its legal merits, i.e. whether you actually had the account, whether you actually defaulted on it, when the alleged default occurred, et cetera.  In most cases this is when the “trial” or “hearing” takes place.  Our goal when defending these cases is to never get to the “hearing” stage.  We want these cases to be thrown out of court before the hearing.

If the lawsuit is filed at your local magistrate or District Justice, then the approach is to have one of our attorneys go to the hearing and defend. You should not attend this hearing.  If you are there then the Cavalry attorney can cross examine you and use your testimony against you.  It’s a horrible way to lose a winnable case.  Hire a consumer attorney to go in your place, whether its our firm or another.  In most instances, Cavalry will be woefully unprepared to defeat us in a court of law.

 

Free, No Obligation Consultation

Our firm has a great deal of experience in defending credit card collection cases. We’ve handled thousands of these cases across many counties in Pennsylvania and we always offer a free consultation on credit card lawsuits.  If you have been sued in any Pennsylvania county, by Cavalry or another collection agency, our firm can help you defend this claim at minimal cost with a great chance at success.

If you’ve received a letter or a lawsuit from Cavalry, please do not contact them directly without first speaking to a consumer attorney.  We offer free consultations on any Cavalry issue.  We can help you understand what your right course of action is when faced with a Cavalry claim.  Call us at 412-823-8003 or send an email to greg@gregartim.com