Seized cars returned to Lynn owners

LYNN – An attorney portrayed in a big-screen movie has taken on debt collector Norfolk Financial, helping three local residents get their cars released after the vehicles were seized by debt collectors.District Court Judge Ellen Flatley ordered Suffolk County constables to release the vehicles and scheduled “ability to pay” hearings in January for the cars? owners.?All issues are on the table,” said Jan Schlichtmann, the car owners? attorney and the attorney whose toxic waste clean-up case in Woburn was dramatized in the movie, “A Civil Action.”Flatley on Dec. 3 ordered Norfolk Financial Corporation to return the residents? vehicles and to hold off collecting costs associated with the vehicles? seizure until January.She also ordered the residents to not sell or transfer the vehicles? titles until next year?s hearing.Her ruling is the second court victory local residents have won since November after Suffolk County constables hired by a law firm acting on Norfolk?s behalf seized their vehicles.Norfolk, in paperwork filed in District Court last week, said the seizures were done after the vehicle owners ignored, in most cases for years, payment demand letters for credit card debt Norfolk had acquired from credit card firms.In Western Avenue resident Roxanne Croce?s case, Norfolk claimed it sent her 28 demand letters since 2002 when it began attempts to collect $933 Norfolk claimed she owed.Her car was seized on Nov. 30.?The defendant agreed to a judgment entering and did not have any issue with the judgment until her automobile was seized,” attorney Carl Brugnoli wrote in a court document on Norfolk?s behalf.Brugnoli, in another court document, claimed Basset Street resident Robin Boswell Gomez was aware of Norfolk?s efforts to collect debt from her. But Boswell Gomez, in a written statement made to the court and in an interview with The Daily Item, said constables on Nov. 30 left her a seizure notice claiming she owed $1,986 in debt and seizure costs, even though her original credit card outstanding balance totaled $400.As in the case of other seizures executed by Brugnoli?s firm, Forsyth Law, the seizure amounts included debt amounts, towing fees and $600 “seizure fees.”Boswell Gomez said she was taking a nap on Nov. 30 when she heard a car alarm and looked out her window in time to see her 2003 Acura rolling away on a flatbed truck.?I went down to court the next day and filed a countersuit,” she said.Tracey Leonard?s car was also seized on Nov. 30 with a seizure order totaling $2,201, including a $1,457 “balance owed” plus towing costs and a seizure fee. Court paperwork indicates the debt Norfolk acquired under Lawrence? name in 2003 totaled $823.?I?m not employed and I need my car to look for employment and transport my children,” the Beacon Hill Avenue resident wrote in a statement submitted to Flatley.Schlichtmann on Tuesday said the cars seized from Lawrence and other Lynn residents were “based on executions of judgments that occurred in a time when Norfolk was involved in debt collection without a license.”He also said Forsyth Law is “involved in direct collection for Norfolk.”Bailey on Tuesday called the car seizures “legal and proper” and said Norfolk is confident that the court will recognize the legal and valid remedies provided by Massachusetts law for creditors to have judgments (especially long outstanding ones) finally satisfied.”