A jury has awarded a Texas man more than $1.5 million in a lawsuit over profane voicemail messages a...

1. Man Wins $1.5M Over Profane Debt Collection Calls
A jury has awarded a Texas man more than $1.5 million in a lawsuit over profane voicemail
messages allegedly left by a collections agency.
Lawyers for Allen Jones, of Lewisville, Texas, say he was subjected to harassing phone calls from
Advanced Call Center Technologies. Employees, lawyers said, used the n-word and the f-word and
made racially-charged remarks about Jones, who is black.
In one voicemail message, a collector suggested that Jones "go pick some m*****f****** cotton
fields," according to recordings provided by Jones' lawyers.
"It got out of control," Jones, 26, said. "It was horrific."
Dean Siotos, a lawyer for Advanced Call Center Technologies, called the language in the voicemails
"indefensible" and said that the calls allegedly placed by ACT employees "must have been in some
sort of personal attack unrelated to the business."
Texas Man Wins Vulgar Voicemail Lawsuit
"It's not in any way, shape or form consistent with the way ACT's collection deparment attempted to
collect debts," he said.
Two ACT employees named in Jones' lawsuit no longer work at the company, Siotos said. He said the
company, which has headquarters in Pennsylvania, will wait until an official judgment is entered on
the jury verdict before deciding whether to appeal. The jury issued its verdict last Friday.
Jones said that the collection calls took place in August, 2007 and stemmed from an $81 credit card
debt. Jones said the he had actually paid off the debt at the time he started receiving calls from
https://independent.academia.edu/WilliamsMadilynn ACT, but the collections agents wouldn't stop
calling even after he told them the debt was resolved.
The calls came as early as 6:30 a.m. and as late as 11 p.m., said lawyer Dean Malone, who along
with Mark Frenkel, represented Jones in the case. In addition to profanity, one of the messages
included a sexual message about Jones' wife, Malone said.
"It was just significant, over-the-top harassment," he said. "I've handled hundreds of these cases
over the years. This is by far the worst I've ever seen."
After a two-week trial, a jury found ACT and its former employees had violated Texas debt collection
rules and awarded Jones $50,000 for mental anguish, $143,000 in attorney's fees and $1.5 million in
additional damages.
The Jones verdict comes days after another debt collection call made headlines: A New Mexico man
is suing Verizon Wireless, alleging that one of its debt collectors threatened to blow his house up
over a $308 unpaid bill.
Al Burrows, 45, said Verizon had already given him 90 days to pay up when he received a call from
another bill collector.

2. The second bill collector acknowledged the payment plan, Burrows said, but still pressed for
immediate payment.
"I am gonna blow your http://www.loc.gov/law/ m*****f****** house up," the bill collector said,
according to the lawsuit filed with New Mexico's First Judicial District Court. Listen to Al Burrows'
call with a Verizon representative here.
Burrows, who lived in Las Cruces, New Mexico, at the time, acknowledged that he owed Verizon
Wireless $308 on an account that he had opened on behalf of his stepson, but said he worked out a
payment plan as soon as he found out about the debt.
Verizon Wireless Says It Takes Allegations Seriously
A Verizon Wireless spokesman said the company doesn't comment on pending litigation, but added:
"I can say the alleged behavior is inappropriate and we take such allegations very seriously."
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/man-wins-15m-vulgar-debt-collection-calls/story?id=10795674