JAMES A. FRANCIS
JAMES A. FRANCIS is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, as well as the Pennsylvania state court. He is a 1992 graduate of Muhlenberg College (B.A., cum laude) and a 1995 graduate of the Temple University Beasley School of Law. In law school, he won the 1995 Wapner, Newman & Wigrizer, P.C. award for excellence in civil trial advocacy and was awarded outstanding oral advocacy. At Temple, he served as President of the Student Bar Association. Following law school, Mr. Francis was associated with Kolsby, Gordon, Robin, Shore & Rothweiler in Philadelphia, and concentrated in catastrophic injury litigation. Since 1998, he has focused his practice in consumer protection litigation, with a particular concentration in fair credit reporting, fair debt collection practices and consumer class actions. He has tried and successfully litigated cases on behalf of many consumers throughout Pennsylvania.
In 2007, Mr. Francis was ranked one of the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Pennsylvania in Philadelphia Magazine and Pennsylvania Super Lawyers magazine. He has been consistently ranked one of the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Philadelphia for the years 2004-2007. He has appeared on the NBC Philadelphia affiliate News 10’s Consumer Alert and ABC Channel 6’s Action News programs to discuss credit reporting issues
Class Counsel Certifications
Strausser v. ACB Receivables Management, Inc., 2008 WL 859224 (E.D. Pa., March 28, 2008);
Nienaber v. Citibank (South Dakota), N.A., 2007 WL 2003761 (D.S.D. , July 5, 2007);
Jordan v. Commonwealth Financial Systems, Inc., 237 F.R.D. 132, (E.D. Pa. 2006);
Seawell v. Universal Fidelity Corp, 235 F.R.D. 64 (E.D.Pa. 2006);
Perry v. FleetBoston Financial Corp., 229 F.R.D.105 (E.D. Pa. 2005);
Beck v. Maximus, Inc., 2005 WL 589749 (E.D. Pa. 2005), vacated on other grounds, Beck v. Maximus, 457 F. 3d 291, 2006 WL 2193603 (3d. Cir. Aug. 4, 2006)
Stoner v. CBA Information Services, 352 F. Supp. 2d 549 (E.D. Pa. 2005);
Bittner v. Trans Union, LLC, C.A. No. 04-2562 (E.D. Pa. January 4, 2005);
Wisneski v. Nationwide Collections, Inc., 227 F.R.D. 259 (E.D. Pa. 2004);
Petrolito v. Arrow Financial Services, LLC, 221 F.R.D. 303 (D. Conn. 2004);
Orloff v. Syndicated Office Systems, Inc., 2004 WL 870691 (E.D. Pa 2004);
Bonett v. Education Debt Services, Inc., 2003 WL 21658267 (E.D. Pa. 2003);
Gaumer v. The Bon-Ton Stores, C.A. No. 02-8611 (E.D. Pa. Dec. 30, 2003);
Street v. Portfolio Recovery Associates, C.A. No. 01-3684 (E.D. Pa. July 30, 2003);
Samuel-Bassett v. Kia Motors America, Inc., 212 F.R.D. 271 (E.D. Pa. 2000), vacated on other grounds;
Oslan v. Law Offices of Mitchell N. Kay, 232 F. Supp. 2d 436 (E.D. Pa. 2002);
Oslan v. Collection Bureau of Hudson Valley, 206 F.R.D. 109 (E.D. Pa. 2002);
Saunders v. Berks Credit & Collections, 2002 WL 1497374 (E.D. Pa. 2002);
Schilling v. Let’s Talk Cellular and Wireless, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3352 (E.D. Pa. 2002);
Fry v. Hayt, Hayt and Landau, 198 F.R.D. 461 (E.D. Pa. 2000);
Smith v. First Union Mortgage Corporation, 1999 WL 509967 (E.D. Pa. 1999);
Miller v. Inovision, C.P. Phila. County, December Term, 1999, No. 3504
Notable Cases
Samuel-Bassett v. Kia Motors America, Inc., C.P. Phila. County, January Term, 2001, No. 2199--5.6 million dollar verdict for class of Pennsylvania car purchasers;
Cortez v. Trans Union, LLC, Civil No. 05-5684 (E.D. Pa., April 26, 2007)--$800,000 jury verdict against Trans Union in fair credit reporting case, remitted to $150,000;
Ziegenfuse v. Apex Asset Management, LLC, 239 F.R.D. 400 (E.D. Pa. 2006)--obtained court decision holding that offers of judgment under Rule 68 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure cannot be used in class actions;
Stoner v. CBA Information Services, 352 F. Supp. 2d 549 (E.D. Pa. 2005)--obtained $772,500 settlement for class of consumers who disputed errors in their credit reports;
Richburg v. Palisades Collection, LLC, 247 F.R.D. 457 (E.D. Pa. 2008)-- federal court ruled that actions to collect delinquent credit card debt in Pennsylvania subject to 4 year statute of limitations (not 6 as the defendant collection agency had argued);
Perry v. FleetBoston Financial Corp., 2004 WL 1508518 (E.D. Pa. 2004)--defeated motion to compel arbitration in class action brought under Fair Credit Reporting Act;
Crane v. Trans Union, LLC, 282 F. Supp. 2d 311 (E.D. Pa. 2003)--federal court held that credit reporting agencies that merely parrot information from credit furnishers and fail to forward dispute documentation face claims for punitive damages under the Fair Credit Reporting Act; violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act presents a violation of Pennsylvania’s Consumer Protection Law); Lawrence v. Trans Union, LLC, 296 F. Supp. 2d 582 (E.D. Pa. 2003)--same;
Wisneski v. Nationwide Collections, Inc., 227 F.R.D. 259 (E.D. Pa. 2004)--obtained class certification in Fair Debt Collection Practices action in which a Pennsylvania federal court held for the first time that statutory net worth limitation is not limited to balance sheet net worth, and includes equity, capital stock and goodwill;
Evantash v. G.E. Capital Mortgage Services, Inc., 2003 WL 22844198 (E.D. Pa. 2003)--federal court held that technical accuracy defense was not available to defendants under the Fair Credit Reporting Act;
Sheffer v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc., 2003 WL 21710573 (E.D. Pa. 2003)--federal court held that Fair Credit Reporting Act permits as recoverable damage emotional distress in trying to correct errors in a consumer’s credit file, even where no pecuniary or out-of-pocket losses;
Sheffer v. Experian Information Solutions Inc., 249 F. Supp. 2d 560 (E.D. Pa. 2003)--federal court held that FCRA provides a private right of action against furnishers of information;
Sullivan v. Equifax, Inc. et al., 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7884 (E.D. Pa. 2002)-- federal court held that reporting a debt to a credit reporting agency is a communication covered by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act;
Wenrich v. Cole, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18687 (E.D. Pa. 2000)-- federal court held that FDCPA provides protection for all persons, not just consumers;
Jaramillo v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc., 155 F. Supp. 2d 356 (E.D. Pa. 2001); 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10221 (E.D. Pa. 2001)--federal court held that single publication rule does not apply to actions brought for violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act;
Presentations/Lectures By Invitation
Faculty/Speaker, Credit Reporting and Debt Collection Litigation, Municipal Court Judicial Conference (CLE), Pennsylvania, PA, May 6, 1999
Speaker, Protecting Privacy, Ensuring Accuracy, National Association of Consumer Advocates, Albuquerque, NM, June 1, 2002;
Speaker, Litigating Accuracy Issues With Credit Reporting Agencies, National Association of Consumer Advocates, Chicago, Ill., May 14-16, 2004;
Speaker, Understanding Credit Scoring, Consumer Rights Litigation Conference, National Consumer Law Center, Boston, MA, November 7, 2004;
Speaker, The People’s Law School, Philadelphia Bar Association, Philadelphia, PA, October 2004;
Faculty, Fair Credit Reporting Litigation, Consumer Protection Law, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Philadelphia, PA and Mechanicsburg, PA, December 2004, March 2007;
Faculty, Consumer Financial Services Litigation, Practicing Law Institute, New York, NY, March 2007;
Speaker, Litigating Accuracy Issues With Furnishers of Credit Data, National Association of Consumer Advocates, New Orleans, LA, June 2-5, 2005.
Speaker, Philadelphia Housing Expo, Homeownership Counseling Association of the Delaware Valley, 2005 and 2006;
Guest Lecturer, Consumer Protection Law course, Temple Law School, 2003-2006;
Guest Lecturer, Consumer Protection Law course, Widener Law School, 2004-2006;
Mr. Francis serves on the Editorial Board of the Consumer Financial Services Law Report, as well as the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral and Information Service Committee (LRIS) and Federal Courts Committee. He serves as an arbitrator for the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. He is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association, Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association, Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, and National Association of Consumer Advocates.