By KELSEY SWANEKAMP
Buffalo Law Journal

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has filed a lawsuit against 35 law firms and two debt collectors as the latest stage in an ongoing process of legal action.

The lawsuit alleges that the firms did not properly notify people that they were defendants in a lawsuit. As a result, the complaint states, they were unable to appear in court, and the cases often resulted in default judgments against those identified as debtors.

According to the suit, the listed firms and debt collectors hired a process server, American Legal Process, to provide notification to defendants. However, the lawsuit alleges that the server failed to do so - a tactic known as "sewer service." Instead of serving the defendants, the complaint claims, American Legal Process falsified documents, certifiying that the people had been notified.

"ALP's scheme undermined the foundation of this (legal) system and denied thousands of individuals their day in court," Cuomo said in a July 22 press release.

The lawsuit, said the press release, is an attempt to throw out the default judgments made when defendants failed to show up in court, and to return the money lost by those defendants.

Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP, a Rochester-based law firm and one of the 35 firms listed in the suit, issued a press release in response to the Attorney General's suit.

"We clearly had no idea that ALP was engaging in any fraudulent or unlawful conduct," the prepared statement read.

Attempts to reach Greater Niagara Holdings LLP, a Williamsville company named in the complaint, were unsuccessful.