AMERICAN EXPRESS DEBT LAWSUIT SETTLED

We were retained on a case where American Express sued a consumer for $80,000 based on an allegedly defaulted American Express Platinum card. American Express is an original creditor whom very rarely sells their debt to common debt buyers such as Midland Funding or Unifund. They are the most aggressive creditor that we have seen from our experience defending consumers in consumer debt matters. In this matter, they originally retained the debt collection law firm of Jaffe and Asher to pursue litigation against our client but after Jaffe moved away from the business of debt collection in New York, the case was later transferred to the debt collection law firm of Zwicker and Associates whom handle most of the American Express litigation that we see against consumers.

This was a particularly special case because our client works for a financial institution and is licensed to manage people's money. FINRA has very serious rules that must be followed in these circumstances and a judgment in this case could have meant that our client could have lost her license. We made sure to submit an answer with affirmative defenses to protect her against judgment and keep the burden on American Express. After requesting discovery materials, we noticed that although Zwicker was able to provide two years of statements, all of the original contract forms were standard and rubber stamped. Zwicker then filed a Motion for Summary Judgment which we opposed with what we believed to be enough to push the case to trial. Zwicker and American Express finally relented and agreed to settle the matter for $30,000 over three years’ time which is generally unheard of when dealing with American Express.