Earlier in September, Judge Denny Chin agreed to a class action case of thousands of plaintiffs who had been sued for unpaid debts and had default judgments entered against them. The issue began when debt purchaser Leucadia National Corp. and NY law firm, Mel S. Harris and Associates, that specializes in debt collection, used tactics to keep the plaintiffs from finding out about legal action until default judgment was issued.

One of the tactics “sewer service” made sure that notices were either improperly delivered or never served at all. By Judge Chin’s standards, the two companies violated the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act NY state’s general business law, and the Racketeer influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. While Leucadia remained silent, , Harris Associates denied the claims and said it had not broken any laws and that plaintiffs had not proven the existence of an alleged conspiracy to defraud defendants.