The $100 crime

When Kquian Blount’s car was repossessed, she paid a Craigslist advertiser to help her get it back and to file for bankruptcy on her behalf.

The advertiser, who gave his name as Richard O’Donnell, later sent Blount what he said was her bankruptcy case number. The case number was bogus. O’Donnell had filed no petition, and the 10 days Blount had to get her car back ran out. 

A reporter’s call to the advertised number was not returned.

After a tearful phone call from Blount, Lake St. Louis attorney Ron Ribaudo, who also advertises on Craigslist, checked for O’Donnell’s name in The Missouri Bar directory and didn’t find it.

In October, he posted Blount’s story on a small firm listserv the bar hosts and asked what recourse she might have.

The answer is not much.

Under state law, the unauthorized practice of law is punishable as a misdemeanor with a fine of no more than $100, giving the Missouri Attorney General’s Office and local prosecutors scant incentive to pursue cases. Blount also could sue in small claims court, but she would first have to find out O’Donnell’s real name and address, and even then she could have a hard time collecting.

The incident illustrates why the unauthorized practice of law should be placed under the state’s Merchandising Practices Act, said solo and small firm advocate Karl Timmerman, who is renewing an effort to do just that.

Timmerman, whose law office is in Hol-den, helped lead the charge on similar legislation that failed in the 2009 legislative session.

The attorney general’s office has a consumer protection division that handles prosecutions under the act as well as other consumer problems. The merchandising practices law lets the state seek injunctions to stop companies from operating improperly in Missouri. It also provides for punitive damages and attorneys’ fees, making such cases more attractive for lawyers to handle.

“It’s an elegant solution,” Timmerman said. “The attorney general’s office already has a merchandising division set up, and it’s staffed.”

Opposition from the banking and real estate industries and car dealerships doomed last session’s legislation, Timmerman said. Those businesses have been the target of class-action lawsuits over fees for document processing. The lawsuits alleged charging such fees is the unauthorized practice of law.

The industries may rekindle their opposition if a similar proposal makes it to the Legislature for the 2010 session.

“Since banks have been a target in the past, one has to withhold judgment until we see how it’s been written,” said Wade Nash, general counsel for the Missouri Bankers Association.

The association’s board of directors would decide whether to lobby on the issue, Nash said.

Timmerman said he doesn’t have a problem with “canned documents” being used, but he does have a problem when banks and other businesses charge money to help people fill out the forms.

“Then it’s not just filling out forms, it’s giving legal advice,” Timmerman said. Timmerman is meeting with legislators and members of the bar’s board of governors to build support for the legislation. Last year, the bar took no position on the legislation, and a single state representative, Kansas City Democrat John Burnett, was involved in the issue.

Timmerman has talked to his state senator, Johnson County Republican David Pearce, about possible legislation. Pearce said he needs to research and “do some thinking” about the issue.

Last session, the legislation was sidelined with an omnibus judiciary bill, and the question is whether it can stand alone, Pearce said.

“Anything that has a fiscal note this year is dead on arrival,” Pearce said. “The fact that there’s no fiscal note will make it easier to pass.”

Blount, meanwhile, has been working on her own behalf.

O’Donnell came to her house, since she didn’t have a car. So she doesn’t know an office address, but she does have a phone number.

After O’Donnell stopped taking her phone calls, she filed a consumer complaint with the attorney general’s office. She posted information about O’Donnell in Craigslist, which drew a response from another woman who had a similar story about the purported attorney. The woman worked in skip-tracing, or tracking the whereabouts of people who have deliberately gone missing, and was able to provide information about him, including his license plate numbers. 

Blount called O’Donnell and left a message, telling him she had information on how to find him and one of his relatives.

“I said, ‘Look, I’m trying to be nice, but you took my money knowing I don’t have any money, that’s why they took my car in the first place,'” Blount said.

O’Donnell called back and said he hadn’t called her back because he’d been in the hospital, but he would return her $300.

“He said he’d call today after 1 p.m.,” Blount said at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. “I’m waiting for him to call me.”

Ribaudo has agreed to take Blount’s bankruptcy case for free if she’ll supply the filing fees.