FAYETTEVILLE – A Fayette County consumer has filed a class-action lawsuit against a debt collector over allegations that it used unfair and/or unconscionable means to collect a debt.
Rhonda K. Hayhurst filed a complaint on behalf of all others similarly situated on June 22 in Fayette Circuit Court against Claudio & Johnson, Attorneys at Law LLC alleging violation of the West Virginia Consumer Credit Protection Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that she incurred a medical debt and that the defendant contacted her to collect it in 2014. The plaintiff holds Claudio & Johnson, Attorneys at Law LLC responsible because the defendant allegedly threatened the plaintiff with a lawsuit if she failed to pay her debt with no intention of taking the threatened action and attempted to collect a debt without a license or bond in the state.
The plaintiff seeks actual damages, statutory damages, all legal fees and any other relief as the court deems just. She is represented by Ralph C. Young, Christopher B. Frost, Steven R. Broadwater Jr. and Jed R. Nolan of Hamilton, Burgess, Young & Pollard PLLC in Fayetteville. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge John W. Hatcher Jr.
Fayette Circuit Court case number 17-C-222