Overview:
Doucet & Associates Co., L.P.A. is one of the most recognized foreclosure defense and consumer law firms in Ohio due to our client successes and Mr. Doucet’s publications on the subject, including his book 23 Legal Defenses to Foreclosure: How to Beat the Bank. Mr. Doucet regularly trains other attorneys in the area of foreclosure defense and has taught multiple CLE courses on the subject.
Doucet & Associates Co. L.P.A. represents homeowners facing foreclosure and consumers who have been taken advantage of by businesses and banks. We have a track record of successfully meeting our clients’ objectives, and are regularly referred cases from other lawyers when the lawsuit becomes too complex. We welcome those referrals, as well as foreclosure cases at most points in the litigation process, including appeals.
While representing our clients’ interests, we regularly fight for extensions of consumer law to better protect all consumers and homeowners, and are very proud of the significant caselaw that we have helped develop. For example, in the landmark federal appeals case Marais v. Chase, we successfully argued that mortgage services must make good faith efforts to investigate homeowners’ mortgage questions under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), or face liability. There, Chase Home Finance failed to answer questions presented by our client about why it was not properly crediting overpayments she made. Due to our efforts and our client’s determination, Chase ultimately paid nearly $94,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees, and it actually admitted wrongdoing on the written record though an offer of judgment.
In another federal appeals case we won on behalf of our client, Slorp v. Lerner Sampson and Rothfuss, we successfully argued that our client’s racketeering lawsuit against the law firm LSR, Bank of America, and MERS for robo-signing should proceed. There, we alleged the law firm directed one of its paralegals to fraudulently robo-sign mortgage assignments, and then used one of those mortgage assignments to foreclose our on our client’s home months earlier. After Mr. Slorp retained our firm in that earlier foreclosure action, the law firm and Bank of America dismissed it. We then filed a federal lawsuit alleging their actions violated of several laws, including the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). The Sixth Circuit’s federal appellate decision allowed our racketeering claim to proceed – a major victory for people wrongly foreclosed on by banks using robo-signed documentation. The decision also found in favor of consumers on a very important issue surrounding their ability to challenge documents in foreclosure cases. That case will likely shape law in Ohio for some time.
While we are known for our work helping homeowners in foreclosure, we have a robust consumer protection practice because our focus is on helping people. Our consumer protection practice spans a variety of issues between businesses and people buying something for personal use from that business. Virtually every time you buy something from a business, you are protected by a series of consumer protection laws. These include everything from buying a car, to signing up for a gym membership, to receiving one of those annoying sales calls on your cell phone, to financing a home purchase, to shopping at a store. Our law firm helps people when those transactions go bad, usually in the form of not receiving whatever product/service was promised, receiving a defective product/service, or failing to cancel/rescind the purchase when permitted.
Much of Doucet & Associates Co., L.P.A.’s work is litigation based. This means that we solve problems using laws that were passed specifically to help people through the court system. We are civil litigation attorneys. Usually, our clients have made several attempts to resolve their issue directly with the wrongdoer before hiring our firm to help. While those efforts are generally not required before hiring our consumer law firm, it demonstrates that most of our clients are not “lawsuit happy,” but rather have a genuine issue that just is not getting resolved on its own. If you have a consumer issue that you would like help resolving, give us a call today at (614) 944-5219.
Our law firm is designed with people in mind, so we do not represent large corporations or financial institutions. However, because we are a people-focused law firm, we recognize those who start small businesses could also benefit from our legal experience. Because of this, we started helping small businesses plan for the future by helping with operating agreements, contract drafting, and litigation. Our experience in the courtroom helps our small business clients because it enables us to identify future potential conflicts, and plan ahead accordingly. While we do not take positions contrary to consumers, it is not unusual for us to suggest a new way of doing business that saves our client time and money, while decreasing liability and future litigation risk.
The lawyers and staff at Doucet & Associates Co., L.P.A. are proud to serve the community, and we work hard to meet the individualized needs of our clients to help support a more fair and just society. We believe that regular people trying to make a living deserve to be represented by smart, capable lawyers who have their interests at heart. Giant corporations are not the only ones who deserve to be well represented, which is why we focus on producing high quality work at very affordable prices. Our success reflects our ability, as well as our commitment to our clients.