Predatory Lending By Finance Companies

Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy acted as co-lead national class counsel in predatory lending actions against Citigroup, Household, Fairbanks and Ocwen. In addition, Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy has ongoing cases and investigations, launched by individuals contacting the firm, into predatory lending by some of the country's other big lenders and loan servicing companies. The abusive loan practices include excessive interest and loan costs, and the "packing" of insurance products onto loans. If you have been victimized by such practices, you may contact us at TAKE ACTION to check on your legal rights. 

Consumer Class Actions

The firm is one of the most experienced law firms in the country in representing consumers in class action lawsuits against businesses and corporations. Class actions are lawsuits in which an individual, or a group of individuals, sues a business on behalf of all individuals who have similar claims against the business. By allowing numerous claims to be brought in one lawsuit, class actions provide redress for harms that might be too small to address through individual lawsuits. The firm typically represents consumers in class actions against corporations that have engaged in fraud, or produced defective and dangerous products.

Examples of Consumer Fraud Litigation:

Anastasiya Komarova v. MBNA America Bank, N.A.; National Credit Acceptance, Inc.
San Francisco Superior Court — Case No.: CGC-06-456891
In a rare jury trial against a credit card collection agency, a San Francisco jury ruled in favor of a young woman who was the victim of an abusive campaign to force her to repay a debt she never incurred. Anne Marie Murphy and Justin T. Berger, two Associates at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy represented Anastasiya Komarova, who was awarded $600,000 from National Credit Acceptance, Inc. in 2008. Komarova had been subjected to nearly a year of hostile telephone calls to her work place and a spurious arbitration proceeding, all over a bogus credit card debt and despite the fact that she repeatedly told the agency she never had an account with the credit card company in question. In issuing its verdict, the San Francisco Superior Court jury described National Credit Acceptance's conduct as "outrageous." The verdict is believed to be one of the largest verdicts in the country by a sole plaintiff alleging credit abuse.

The following consumer class actions have recently been brought by Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy:

In re: Hewlett-Packard Inkjet Printer Litigation
Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy represents consumers who have been deceived by inaccurate low-on-ink warnings on Hewlett-Packard Inkjet Printers. The low-on-ink warnings appear even when there is a substantial amount of ink remaining in the ink cartridges, thereby misleading consumers into unnecessarily buying expensive ink cartridges.

Rich v. Hewlett-Packard
Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy represents consumers in a class action lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard, which has designed its printers to use color ink even when printing in black and white. Hewlett-Packard does not disclose this design to consumers, who are forced to buy expensive color ink cartridges even when they only print simple black and white documents.