From the, 'why we hate debt collectors' dept.
David Lazarus’ column, “Our civil liberties lose this round,” in the L.A. Times looks at the case of the California debt collector we wrote about earlier. As Lazarus writes, “when it comes to public-private canoodling, the most egregious case I’ve seen recently involved a San Clemente company, American Corrective Counseling Services, that worked with public prosecutors to go after people who bounced checks.” Remember, that company argued that the people it harassed couldn’t sue them because the company was acting as an arm of the district attorney’s office. Interestingly, despite having lost its case on appeal, company officials are unrepentant about the notices it sends people. “They’re not letters from a private company,” said a company VP. “They’re letters from a district attorney.”