I would like your advice on a possible lawsuit that I want to file in Federal Court. I will be suing for significant money, about $50,000. The case is against University of Maryland and The State of Maryland Central Collection Unit. One of the things I was looking at was suing for much more money. The reason is because I need an attorney on this one that will work on contigency. Also I represent quite a few clients who are all willing to sue CA's OC's in federal court if there is an attorney who will do so on contigency so what I would suggest to the attorney is that I retain him as counsel if he would take on my case and the cases of my clients (about 15 who are ready to sue with significant violations) on a contigency basis. I know that Federal court is a whole different ball of wax and what I am hoping is that for the most part the attorney won't even have to go to court but can obtain monetary settlements with deletions of course that would cover his fees and have a little left over for my clients. In your experience do you think that an attorney would take on a federal case on contigency? Again in each case their are clear and substantial violations and damages. Two clients were denied mortgages and was told they could only be approved if the debt was paid off. However in one case the account is completely bogus and the CA is completely non-responsive, this one is not for small claims as their are significant damages here. If you don't mind, please lend your insight on this and share any resources (attorney's, law firms etc.. ) in New York that may be able to assist. Many thanks...
My rationale for suing for 50k is specifically so that I can build in the attorneys fee into any settlement. I would hope to get deletion plus about 15k to take care of the attorney's fee. The violations are atrocious and I have spent the last 8 months racking up damages. I also have a paper trail on these people that spans about a year. I really don't care about the money I just want the deletion and the attorney to get paid. However, I do know that University of Maryland and the State of Maryland Central Collection Unit do have the money to see this through Federal Court should it go that far. However if I can get an attorney to take the case I think I have a good shot at winning simply because they have so many violations and I have damages that I can prove is solely as a result of this debt. One of my damages is the loss of income. I have a letter from a company that I applied to stating that I would have been offered the position I applied for if this account was paid. The position was paying $80k per year, though the letter does not state the salary that the position would have paid had I been hired. I was disqualified for the position based upon a credit report that was pulled and specifically because of the amount of this debt in excess of 8k and the fact that it was unpaid. I think this is a start towards significant damages. Please advise.
