| Volume 123 Number 9 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
If you have a dispute with someone over how much money you owe, a check marked, “accepted in full and complete satisfaction” can settle the dispute. If the check is cashed you will not owe any additional money. But if the amount you owe is not in dispute, putting payment in full on a check has no legal effect. Click here for more.
Meet Home, Google's Answer to Amazon Echo
Google officially entered the voice-activated speaker race with Google Home. The standalone device will compete directly with Amazon's popular Echo and should be available to consumers later this year. Click here for more.
Your Money
For people who are relocating and cannot visit a property in person, technology has made the hurry-up buying process so comfortable that 21 percent of homebuyers say they have made an offer on a house without seeing it first, according to a new survey from real-estate brokerage Redfin. Click on the link for a few tips to pull off a home purchase from afar. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Supreme Court rules state attorney general’s outside counsel did not violate FDCPA. Under Ohio law, overdue debts owed to state-owned agencies and instrumentalities are certified to the State’s Attorney General, who may appoint, as independent contractors, private attorneys, as “special counsel” to act on the Attorney General’s behalf. Special counsel must use the Attorney General’s letterhead in communicating with debtors. Attorneys appointed as special counsel, sent debt collection letters on the Attorney General’s letterhead to debtors, with signature blocks containing the name and address of the signatory as well as the designation “special” or “outside” counsel to the Attorney General. Each letter identified the sender as a debt collector seeking payment for debts to a state institution. Debtors filed a putative class action, alleging violation of FDCPA. The Sixth Circuit vacated, concluding that special counsel, as independent contractors, are not entitled to the FDCPA’s state-officer exemption. The Supreme Court reversed. The Court found that even if special counsel are not “state officers” under the Act, their use of the Attorney General’s letterhead does not violate Section 1692e. The letterhead identifies the principal—Ohio’s Attorney General—and the signature block names the agent—a private lawyer. A debtor’s impression that a letter from special counsel is a letter from the Attorney General’s Office is “scarcely inaccurate.” Sheriff v. Gillie Click here for more.