Resources

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These links are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by DeWoskin Law Firm, LLC of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual. DeWoskin Law Firm, LLC bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.

Georgia Resources

• Georgia Law – Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.)
• Georgia Municipal Codes
• Georgia Administrative Offices of the Court
  • Court Forms
  • About Georgia Courts
  • Georgia Court Rules (ALL)
  • Uniform Rules of the Magistrate Courts of Georgia (updated 2013)
  • Uniform Rules of the State Courts of Georgia  (updated 2011)
• State Bar of Georgia
• Secretary of State
• Georgia Superior Court Clerk’s Cooperative Authority (GSCCCA) – Georgia real estate deeds search and notary search

Court Websites

• Cobb County Georgia – Magistrate Court (online file and answer, no online case docket search)
• Cobb County Georgia – State Court (no online case docket, information only)
• Cobb County Georgia – Superior Court (online case docket search)
• Clayton County Georgia  – Magistrate, State, Superior Courts (online case docket search)
• DeKalb County Georgia – Magistrate, State, Superior Courts (online case docket search)
• Fulton County Georgia – Superior Court (online civil case docket search)
• Gwinnett County Georgia – Magistrate, State, Superior Courts (online case  docket search)
• Henry County Georgia – Magistrate Court (online case docket search)
• Henry County Georgia – Superior Court (online case docket search)

Legal Aid Societies and Organizations

• Legal Aid in Georgia
• Georgia Legal Aid
• Atlanta Legal Aid
• DeKalb Volunteer Lawyers Foundation

Legal Resources

• Legal Citation – Learn the basics of how use legal citations
• Google Scholar – Search case law online for free
• I-CAN! Georgia – Online Legal Forms
• Glossary of Legal Terms – Fulton County Court of Superior Court Website
• PACER –  (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) – Search and view federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts dockets and documents.
• United States Courts (Federal)
• United States Courts Locator (Federal)
• United States Courts of Appeals and District Courts Map (PDF)
• Federal Judicial Center – Educational/Resource website for Federal Courts
• United States Court Opinions – United States Courts Opinions (USCOURTS) collection is a pilot project between the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) to provide public access to opinions from selected United States appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts.  (Currently, the only Georgia court in this program is the United States District Court Middle District of Georgia)
• The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) annual edition
• Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR)
• The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Entire Law – PDF
• Federal Trade Commission Resources on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act 

Government Related Resources and Studies

• Federal Trade Commission, The Structure and Practices of the Debt Buying Industry, (Jan 2013)
• Federal Trade Commission,  Debt Collection 2.0: Protecting Consumers as Technologies Change,  (Apr. 28, 2011)
• Federal Trade Commission, Collecting Consumer Debts: The Challenges of Change –A Workshop Report, (2009)
• Federal Trade Commission, Repairing a Broken System:  Protecting Consumers in Debt Collection Litigation  and Arbitration, (2010)
• U.S. Gov’t Accountability Office, Credit Cards: Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Could Better Reflect the Evolving Debt Collection Marketplace and Use of Technology (2009)

Law Professors and/or Attorneys Whitepapers and Studies

• Peter A. Holland, Junk Justice: a Statistical Analysis of 4,400 Lawsuits Filed by Debt Buyers, 26 Loyola Consumer Law Review 179 (2014).
• Peter A. Holland, Debt-Buyer Lawsuits and Inaccurate Data, 25 Communities & Banking 20 (Spring 2014).
• Peter A. Holland, Defending Junk-Debt-Buyer Lawsuits, 46 Clearinghouse Review 12 May-June (2012)
• Peter A. Holland,  The One Hundred Billion Dollar Problem in Small Claims Court: Robo-Signing and Lack of Proof of Debt Buyer Cases, 6 J.  Bus. & Tech. L. 259 (2011)
• Mary Spector, Debts, Defaults and Details: Exploring the Impact of Debt Collection Litigation on Consumers and Courts (December 1, 2011). Virginia Law & Business Review, Vol. 6, No. 2, p. 257, Fall 2011; SMU Dedman School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 85.
• Rachel Terp & Lauren Bowne, PAST DUE: Why Debt Collection Practices and the Debt Buying Industry Need Reform Now (2011)
• Robert J. Hobbs & Rick Jurgens, Nat’l Consumer Law Ctr., The Debt Machine: How the Collection Industry Hounds Consumers and Overwhelms the Courts (2010)
• Clinton Rooney,  Defense of Assigned Consumer Debts. 43 Clearinghouse Rev. 542 (March/April, 2010)
• Robert Martin, Dist. Council 37 Mun. Emps. Legal Servs., Where’s the Proof? When Debt Buyers Are Asked to Substantiate Their Claims in Collection Lawsuits Against NYC Employees and Retirees, They Don’t , (2009)
• Lauren Goldberg, Dealing in Debt: The High Stakes World of  Debt Collection After FDCPA, 79 S. Cal. L. Rev. 711 (2006).

Media Coverage

• Bank of America Sold Card Debts to Collectors Despite Faulty Records, Jeff Horwitz, American Banker (March 29, 2012)
• OCC Probing JPMorgan Chase Credit Card Collections, Jeff Horwitz, American Banker (March 12, 2012)
• Debt Collectors Face a Hazard: Writer’s Cramp, David Segal, N.Y. Times, (November 1, 2010)
• Boom in Debt Buying Fuels Another Boom — in Lawsuits, Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Wall Street Journal, (November, 29, 2010)

Debt Collection Industry Papers

• DBA Int’l, DBA International’s Paper on the Collection of Past Statute Debts  (2007)
• DBA Int’l, The Debt Buying Industry: A White Paper (2012)
• Ernst & Young, The Impact of Third-Party Debt Collection on the National and State Economies (2012), (commissioned by ACA International)

Consumer Credit and Informational Reports

• Summary of Rights under the FCRA
• Consumer Credit Reporting – FDIC
• Free Annual Credit Report Request
• Fair and Accurate Transactions Act of 2003 – (full text of law)  To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act, to prevent identity theft, improve resolution of consumer disputes, improve the accuracy of consumer records, make improvements in the use of, and consumer access to, credit information, and for other purposes.
• How to Dispute Credit Report Errors – Federal Trade Commission Publication
• Consumer’s Guide to Credit Reports and Credit Scores – Federal Reserve
• Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
• Fair Credit Reporting Act
• Guidelines for Furnishers of Information to Consumer Reporting Agencies
• Federal Trade Commission – Report to Congress Under Section 319 of the Fair and Accurate Credit 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. (“FCRA”) (December 2012)
• Order Your FULL Consumer File Disclosure from Lexis Nexis (Free) – Public records including liens and judgments, employment records, residential/renter records, insurance reports, are gathered about consumers from various sources and pulled together into consumer reports.  LexisNexis has products called Accurint and KnowX which provides this information to subscribers upon request.  You are entitled to free copies of the reports maintained on you.
• Order Your C.L.U.E. Consumer Reports (Free) – The C.L.U.E. Personal Property report provides a seven year history of losses associated with an individual and his/her personal property.  The C.L.U.E. Auto report provides a seven year history of automobile insurance losses associated with an individual.

Misc. Resources

• Consumer Action Handbook – Use the Consumer Action Handbook (CAH) to get help with consumer purchases, problems and complaints. Find consumer contacts at hundreds of companies and trade associations, local, state, and federal government agencies, national consumer organizations, and more.
• U.S. Government Printing Office – (Government publications)
• Federal Agency Consumer Contacts – For information or to file a complaint about a bank, savings and loan, credit union, credit card, or other financial institution, contact one of these federal agencies.
• Filing a complaint against a bank – Federal Reserve
• Consumer’s Guide to Credit Card Protection Laws – Federal Reserve
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 
• CFPB –  Debt collection examination procedures (October 24, 2012)