Live data from Hacker News

I fought Equifax's lawyers in court and won: Part 2

medium.com

51–60 of 73 posts

Re: I fought Equifax's lawyers in court and won: Part 2

#51
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's even more ridiculous: The bank lets criminals walk out the door with money in our name. Equifax demands money to avoid punishing us when banks are defrauded through their own incompetence. This is worse, because Equifax aided the criminals, but we were always getting screwed over.

Wonder why there aren't class action law suits against banks and other companies that lie to the credit bureaus about people defaulting on loans? It is not "identify theft" that is the problem, it is banks libeling people and the credit bureaus passing the libel along. You loaned money to someone and didn't even have their correct identifying information. Well that's a bit of a problem for you. You say that the fraud…

It is because these shenanigans are perfectly legitimatized.

I recently read "A Man for All Markets" by Edward O. Thorp and it opened my eyes to the level of corruption practiced by Financial Institutions.

I find India incredibly corrupt but now I think America is not far behind. Only reason financial crimes in America does not come to light is because they are legitimatized by completely twisting the Laws to favor the right set of people.

Case in point is Mr. Trump who has declared bankruptcy multiple times without having any impact on his personal worth. This is just nuts.

Re: I fought Equifax's lawyers in court and won: Part 2

#52
post #10
post #5

I'm as glad as anyone else to see Equifax getting what's due to them, but is anyone else bothered by the surreal quality to this story? It sounds like the rules and procedures being applied were vastly different than what Equifax's highly paid lawyer expected. Is their $1000-an-hour lawyer just incompetent, or is the pro tem judge here allowed to make up the rules as she goes along?

My experience is that big law lawyers tend to have very narrow areas of expertise. There's not much call for big law lawyers appealing an $8,000 small claims judgement, so you probably shouldn't expect much.

And overall a bit ridiculous, given this probably set them back $25k to handle this case.

Re: I fought Equifax's lawyers in court and won: Part 2

#53
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wonder why there aren't class action law suits against banks and other companies that lie to the credit bureaus about people defaulting on loans? It is not "identify theft" that is the problem, it is banks libeling people and the credit bureaus passing the libel along. You loaned money to someone and didn't even have their correct identifying information. Well that's a bit of a problem for you. You say that the fraud…

It is because these shenanigans are perfectly legitimatized. I recently read "A Man for All Markets" by Edward O. Thorp and it opened my eyes to the level of corruption practiced by Financial Institutions. I find India incredibly corrupt but now I think America is not far behind. Only reason financial crimes in America does not come to light is because they are legitimatized by completely twisting the Laws to favor t…

>Case in point is Mr. Trump who has declared bankruptcy multiple times without having any impact on his personal worth. This is just nuts

So... if that weren't possible, how do you think it would affect the rate at which businesses are created? Let's say you want to start a business, but if you hit hard times and need to fold, you are _personally_ liable for any debt? Would you start that business, knowing that your financial life could easily be destroyed for the next 30 years? If you _did_ decide to start that business, do you think you'd want to grow at anything more than a snail's pace (if at all)?

Re: I fought Equifax's lawyers in court and won: Part 2

#54
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is because these shenanigans are perfectly legitimatized. I recently read "A Man for All Markets" by Edward O. Thorp and it opened my eyes to the level of corruption practiced by Financial Institutions. I find India incredibly corrupt but now I think America is not far behind. Only reason financial crimes in America does not come to light is because they are legitimatized by completely twisting the Laws to favor t…

>Case in point is Mr. Trump who has declared bankruptcy multiple times without having any impact on his personal worth. This is just nuts So... if that weren't possible, how do you think it would affect the rate at which businesses are created? Let's say you want to start a business, but if you hit hard times and need to fold, you are _personally_ liable for any debt? Would you start that business, knowing that your…

If that is the case then why business owners should be compensated handsomely when they succeed? while they reap the benefits of success ,failure should be owned by society?

I am not saying personal financial position should be destroyed but if you are a multimillionaire already why your failures should be outsourced to society?

And as far as growth is concerned, what's wrong with growing slowly? Cancer too is growth, it's just uncontrolled.

Coming to Trump, he repeatedly failed doing the same type of business.

Re: I fought Equifax's lawyers in court and won: Part 2

#55

What a great and inspiring piece. I have a question - does this become part of caselaw then for this jurisdiction? Is this now precedent for others who want to sue Equifax for being victim of the same data breach?

Undoubtedly not. This would be a non-precedential decision. You could mention it in another case but the judge would have no obligation to follow it. Also, your facts are going to be different, which further complicates things.

Re: I fought Equifax's lawyers in court and won: Part 2

#56
post #5

I'm as glad as anyone else to see Equifax getting what's due to them, but is anyone else bothered by the surreal quality to this story? It sounds like the rules and procedures being applied were vastly different than what Equifax's highly paid lawyer expected. Is their $1000-an-hour lawyer just incompetent, or is the pro tem judge here allowed to make up the rules as she goes along?

Hiring a $1000/hour lawyer for your small claims case is like hiring an airplane mechanic to work on your car. There's a pretty good chance that this is the first time Equifax's lawyer had ever been involved in a small claims case.

>Hiring a $1000/hour lawyer for your small claims case is like hiring an airplane mechanic to work on your car. There's a pretty good chance that this is the first time Equifax's lawyer had ever been involved in a small claims case.

It's not about the money. It's about sending a message.

Re: I fought Equifax's lawyers in court and won: Part 2

#57

What a great and inspiring piece. I have a question - does this become part of caselaw then for this jurisdiction? Is this now precedent for others who want to sue Equifax for being victim of the same data breach?

Undoubtedly not. This would be a non-precedential decision. You could mention it in another case but the judge would have no obligation to follow it. Also, your facts are going to be different, which further complicates things.

Could you elaborate?

The author himself mention caselaw that he used as reference. If a resident from the same court jurisdiction with the same circumstances(Equifax data breach victim) why would the facts be different beside the identify of the plaintiff?

Re: I fought Equifax's lawyers in court and won: Part 2

#58
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wonder why there aren't class action law suits against banks and other companies that lie to the credit bureaus about people defaulting on loans? It is not "identify theft" that is the problem, it is banks libeling people and the credit bureaus passing the libel along. You loaned money to someone and didn't even have their correct identifying information. Well that's a bit of a problem for you. You say that the fraud…

It is because these shenanigans are perfectly legitimatized. I recently read "A Man for All Markets" by Edward O. Thorp and it opened my eyes to the level of corruption practiced by Financial Institutions. I find India incredibly corrupt but now I think America is not far behind. Only reason financial crimes in America does not come to light is because they are legitimatized by completely twisting the Laws to favor t…

That is because President Trump didn't declare personal bankruptcy. His corporations did.

Re: I fought Equifax's lawyers in court and won: Part 2

#59
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is because these shenanigans are perfectly legitimatized. I recently read "A Man for All Markets" by Edward O. Thorp and it opened my eyes to the level of corruption practiced by Financial Institutions. I find India incredibly corrupt but now I think America is not far behind. Only reason financial crimes in America does not come to light is because they are legitimatized by completely twisting the Laws to favor t…

>Case in point is Mr. Trump who has declared bankruptcy multiple times without having any impact on his personal worth. This is just nuts So... if that weren't possible, how do you think it would affect the rate at which businesses are created? Let's say you want to start a business, but if you hit hard times and need to fold, you are _personally_ liable for any debt? Would you start that business, knowing that your…

That's the purpose of a corporation. You encapsulate the risk and enterprise inside the legal structure. If the corp goes under, then only the assets of the corp are hit. Your personal property isn't affected, other than perhaps your shareholdings in that corporation become worthless.

Re: I fought Equifax's lawyers in court and won: Part 2

#60
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Case in point is Mr. Trump who has declared bankruptcy multiple times without having any impact on his personal worth. This is just nuts So... if that weren't possible, how do you think it would affect the rate at which businesses are created? Let's say you want to start a business, but if you hit hard times and need to fold, you are _personally_ liable for any debt? Would you start that business, knowing that your…

If that is the case then why business owners should be compensated handsomely when they succeed? while they reap the benefits of success ,failure should be owned by society? I am not saying personal financial position should be destroyed but if you are a multimillionaire already why your failures should be outsourced to society? And as far as growth is concerned, what's wrong with growing slowly? Cancer too is growth…

I would argue that being a multimillionaire doesn't actually count as failing.
Post reply on HN