$5 Million Verdict Against Debt Collector Portnoff Law Associates

Pennsylvania property owners who received collection demands from the law firm of Portnoff Law Associates were charged unauthorized fees, interest, and penalties. They filed a class action suit and were represented by the law firm of Donovan Searles, LLC.

The Court found Portnoff Law Associates had charged and collected fees, interest, penalties and attorney fees that the Pennsylvania courts had forbidden. The Court wrote: "The defendants refused to obey the law, and failed to even notify their clients that significant decisions forbidding their collection practices had been handed down. A penalty for continuing to charge add-on attorney fees in disregard of clear appellate court decisions and retaining those add-on attorney fees previously mistakenly charged must be imposed."

The Court entered a verdict against Portnoff Law Associates awarding the Class $2,654,972 for unlawfully received attorney's fees, $510,855 for unlawfully collected administrative fees, and $18,493 for interest on the unlawfully collected administrative fees. Under Pennsylvania's law known as "Act 6", the Court doubled the award relating to the administrative fees for a total of $1,058,697 and assessed a $500,000 statutory penalty. The Court also awarded $1,000,000 in punitive damages due to Portnoff Law Associates' intentional disregard of the rule of law as stated by the Appellate Courts of Pennsylvania.

This is the third class action successfully tried to verdict by Donovan Searles lawyers in the last three years.