Now I knew going into this trial that EdCo was wrong, I knew EdCo had royally screwed me and my sister, I knew I was out thousands of dollars because of EdCo's incompetence, and I knew EdCo had screwed up so many times that the National Guard finally wouldn't even pay on my sisters student loan any more. I also knew I might be screwed, but I would be damned if I'd roll over without letting this be heard by a judge first.
The thing that came as a surprise to me was what a total and complete ASS the judge was. His holiness, Magistrate Byers, thought it would be prudent to give me a sound (and quite misguided) tongue lashing at the end of the trial.
Byers chastised me for my audacity in telling EdCo's blood-sucking collection agent, David B. Russel, to cease harassing me. Apparently his holiness, Magistrate Byers, is completely ignorant and unaware of the law concerning the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) and the rights it gives me under chapter 15 USC §1692c(c). On the off chance that Byers is interested in expanding his knowledge of the law a bit, I'll post for him here the contents of the law he is supposed to uphold (or at lest supposed to have read at some point):
(c) Ceasing communication
If a consumer notifies a debt collector in writing that the
consumer refuses to pay a debt or that the consumer wishes the debt
collector to cease further communication with the consumer, the
debt collector shall not communicate further with the consumer with
respect to such debt, except -
(1) to advise the consumer that the debt collector's further
efforts are being terminated;
(2) to notify the consumer that the debt collector or creditor
may invoke specified remedies which are ordinarily invoked by
such debt collector or creditor; or
(3) where applicable, to notify the consumer that the debt
collector or creditor intends to invoke a specified remedy.
If such notice from the consumer is made by mail, notification
shall be complete upon receipt.
Byers took exception to my referring to EdCo's lawyer, David B. Russell, as a collection agent. Listen Magistrate, try giving those guys a call sometime, their automated phone system immediately separates out clients they are collecting for from the people they are collecting from. Their practice is a collection agency and Russel is nothing more than that lowest form of attorney, a blood sucking collection agent who has sold his soul to the devil.
Byers also took pains to point out how stupid I was because the plaintiff was now at liberty to do all sorts of nastiness to me in order to collect. Apparently once again the poor Magistrate failed to grasp the simple concepts floating around his courtroom. I had brought my checkbook with me and was prepared to dispose of these undesirable low-lifes forth with. I had stepped in something that stank to high heaven and I was fully prepared to scrape it off my shoe and be done with it as soon as the judge was done hearing the case. I was fully prepared to write the $5,000 check and be done with these cretins.
Byers, apparently not content with giving the plaintiffs what they claimed I owed them, also threw in an extra $700 just for fun, and don't think for a moment that the blood sucking collection agent didn't enforce every last dime of the inflated judgment.
I went back about 5 minutes later to ask Byers a question and found him and the blood-sucking collection agent catching up on old times. The smile left Byers face as his nose went skyward to look down once again on me. He seemed quite annoyed that I had interrupted his little reverie and quickly dismissed me and went back to his chat. You got to love the good ol boy system.
For someone who is supposed to administer the law in a fair and impartial manner, his holiness from on high Magistrate Byers certainly doesn't mind inserting his own unwanted ideas and opinions into the proceedings. I'd bet dollars-to-doughnuts this jerk is a Republican who is probably more interested in corporate greed than in justice for individuals, not content with merely beating down the little guy but with grinding him under heal afterward.