A Kansas case by Joy Locke-Odell v. Orion Processing d/b/a World Law Debt, d/b/a World Law Group, and Global Client Solutions was just moved to Federal Court.
In this case it the Plaintiff position is that each entity involved in this debt relief transaction is a credit services or debt management services organization and subject to Kansas Consumer Protection Act and Kansas Credit Services Organizations Act.
The allegation is that Orion Processing was doing business as World Law Direct (“World Law”) and “purports to be a law firm, and has no attorneys working for it that are licensed to practice law in the state of Kansas.” If that is true, then that is a troubling finding.
The Plaintiff learned about World Law via the internet and contacted World Law after reading the company claimed they were a law firm and provided its clients with an attorney to negotiate debt repayment. The serves were said to save the consumer 50% or more on her outstanding debt.
The complaint states the website of World Law said they had attorneys with years of of experience in debt reduction, was a global law firm with “400 leading lawyers online, 7 days a week,” the client would be assigned a state attorney, and the consumer would work directly with lawyers as well as others.
The Plaintiff enrolled with World Law in November of 2010. At that time they believed World Law was a law firm and could provide specialized debt relief services. The agreement she signed also included a provision that Orion Processing would provide services as well. Those services were to be a “contact review, insolvency analysis, pre-bankruptcy screening and analysis, asset information collection and preservation analysis, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act education course and collection of violation incidents, and access to World Law Groups library of legal forms and information.”
The client agreement also provided the attorney would send notice of representation and a “conditional 10-20% settlement offer to creditors.” If the creditor agreed to less than 40% of the original debt the “purported attorney” would be authorized to settle.
The Plaintiff was to pay Orion Processing $900.86 per month for 48 months. The fees were comprised of a onetime retainer fee of $199, monthly attorney evaluation fees of $84.95, $9.45 per month to Global Client Solutions, and a flat fee for “legal services per negotiated account.”
The claim made by the Plaintiff is that despite the claims made by World Law, she found herself with increased debts and late fees and was eventually sued by two creditors for recovery of the debts. This left the Plaintiff is a worse position than she would have been in if she had not used the services of World Law.
As a result of being sued, the Plaintiff notified World Law and was sent a pleading she was to use to answer her lawsuit. The complaint alleges the pleading was insufficient and improper. Most importantly it appears it was not prepared by a licensed Kansas attorney.
Global Client Solutions is said to have played an important role in this scheme as the only mechanism by which “World Law enforces its transaction and collects payments from Plaintiff.”
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It is stated, “Defendant Global Client Solutions knows Defendant World Law is not a licensed Credit Services Organization in the state of Kansas yet facilitates the entire operation of World Law in Kansas.”
Other issues raised by this arrangement include:
- the services were overpriced;
- the consumer believed she was hiring a skilled law firm and services of a licensed Kansas attorney;
- the services provided were not in compliance with Kansas laws regarding debt management services;
- the Plaintiff wound up negotiating “most of the debts she owed herself and received no material benefit from the transactions with Defendants;”, and
- the entries she hired did not engage in any significant debt negotiation on her behalf.
This case was filed by Tai Vokins of Vokins Law Office, taivokins@vokinslaw.com.
The filed complaint can be read here.
Case Exposes Entities Behind Global Client Solutions
As part of this filing an interesting document was included that provides additional information about Global Client Solutions.
Apparently Global Client Solutions is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Global Holdings, LLC. Global Holdings has four members, each of which is also a limited liability company.
- Member 1: The Merrick Family, LLC whose members are Beverly Merrick, Timothy Merrick, Julie Landers, Amy Merrill, Robert Merrick.
- Member 2: Global Marketing Associates, LLC whose members are Soloman International, LLC with sole member Michael Hendrix; Hendrix Marketing Group, LLC whose sole member is Randy Hendrix; The Cyrus Group, LLC whose sole member is Jeffrey Boatman; Robert Hunter Enterprises, LLC whose sole member is Robert Hunter.
- Member 3: Argonaut Private Equity, LLC whose sole member is George Kaiser.
- Member 4: BOKF-CE, LLC whose sole member is BOK Financial Corporation. – Source
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Steve,Looks like this case got cancelled.Johnson County Kansas District CourtCASE NO 11CV09825 LOCKE ODELL vs. ORION PROCESSING LLC ET ALDiv/Judge 2/JAMES F VANOChapter 60Nature OTHER CONTRACT (60)Status CASE TERMINATED01/11/2012 Changed Case Status: From: PENDING To: CASE TERMINATED (OTHERDISPOSITION)01/09/2012 FILE STAMP 1/5/2012, NOTICE OF FILING GLOBAL CLIENT SOLUTIONS, LLC’SNOTICE OF REMOVAL12/27/2011 FILE STAMP 12/27/2011, ORDER TO DELETE DOCUMENTS FROM COURT FILE12/27/2011 FILE STAMP 12/22/2011, ATTORNEY’S RETURN BY CERTIFIED MAIL, SERVEDGLOBAL CLIENT SOLUTIONS LLC. 12/7/1111/21/2011 PETITION AND SUMMONS ISSUED TO ATTORNEY FOR CERTIFIED MAIL”GLOBAL CLIENT SOLUTIONS LLC” E/S11/21/2011 FILE STAMP 11/17/2011, REQUEST AND SERVICE INSTRUCTION FORM11/21/2011 PETITION AND SUMMONS ISSUED TO ATTORNEY FOR CERTIFIED MAIL”ORION PROCESSING LLC” E/S11/21/2011 FILE STAMP 11/17/2011, REQUEST AND SERVICE INSTRUCTION FORM11/21/2011 FILE STAMP 11/17/2011, PETITION11/17/2011 Judge: JAMES F VANO Assigned to Case11/17/2011 NEW CASE FILED; JOY LOCKE ODELL VS ORION PROCESSING LLC WORLDLAW DEBT DBA WORLD LAW GROUP GLOBAL CLIENT SOLUTIONS LLC;FILING FEE 179.50 PAID BY VOKINS TAI J ;, Receipted Amount: $179.50 , Check No:1065, Receipt NO: 11050360
dont go to brite credit123 they lyers and robbers thiefs. they work together with this bank global
Global- Wake up. You lay down with dogs, you get fleas!
Someone has to stand up & get these scumbags out of debt settlement- The FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule was a joke if no one is going to stop the same scammers from taking fees upfront. Bar associations need to get tough on attorneys partnering with debt settlement companies, and leasing attorneys, who do NO work in order to bilk people out of theri money.
The few good debt settlement companies that actually charge no up front fees continue to carry a bad name because of all these bottom feeders. NoteWorld & GCS need to get out of doing business with these attorneys! They both claimed they were going to but then allowed attorneys to sign a statement saying they are not subject to the FTC Rule. Well, you’re subject to lawsuits! Shame on you! If these “law firms” were out of the picture, there would be many more good companies that DON’T CHARGE UP FRONT FOR SETTLEMENT!Â
CFPB, FTC, Attorney Generals, Class Action Lawyers, Bar Associations- Get these scumbags out. Disbar the attorneys for fee-sharing & (obviously) working beneath ethical standards. Get the processors for charging up front fees. The FTC Rule made exceptions for attorneys who were solicited in person to help people with their debts while concentrating their practice in other legal areas- This is Bullshit! REMOVE THE EXEMPTION! It’s being abused.Â
How the hell can the lawyers at LHDR still be practicing law? With all the complaints on the BBB, can there be no complaints with the Illinois bar? Is that possible? The so-called enforcement agencies need to start doing their damn jobs- It’s coming up on 2 years since the FTC rule went into effect, have they enforced the rule on ANYONE yet? This is a good & useful industry that will fall apart unless something is done. Meanwhile millions of hard working people are paying these shmoes just to get screwed out of their money. THE TIME IS NOW- GET THE SCUM OUT OF OUR INDUSTRY. TAKE DOWN A BUNCH OF LAWYERS SO SOMEONE STARTS GETTING THE MESSAGE. BY NOT ENFORCING THE LAWS, AMERICANS ARE BEING HURT. GET OFF YOUR ASSES & START HELPING AMERICANS BY SHUTTING THE SCUM DOWN!
I mean, Come on.