'It Broke My Heart': St. Dominic's Debt Collectors' Tactics Cause Lasting Damage - Mississippi Free Press

“Pretty much that’s the end of the case,” Lee said. “… Typically they can’t afford to hire an attorney for it. It’s pretty expensive to hire an attorney for representation in justice court.”

The Mississippi Center for Justice and the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission partnered with Cambria Solutions to launch a chatbot this month designed to help people navigate justice court at www.msjusticecourthelp.com.

MCIR spoke to one man who was able to successfully defend himself against a medical debt lawsuit in Hinds County Justice Court. Because he works in the medical industry in the Jackson area, he asked not to be named for this story.

Hollis Cobb sued him for an alleged medical debt from Baptist Medical Center. The man responded to the lawsuit and included his bills, arguing that the statute of limitations had passed. He also argued his insurance had paid the correct balance and that he was being balance-billed—which is illegal under Mississippi law. Balance billing is when a health-care provider charges more than an insurance company is willing to pay. If the health-care provider is in the insurance company’s network, the health-care provider has to accept the payment. Some health-care providers improperly bill patients the difference.

Charles Lee, consumer protection director for the Mississippi Center for Justice, say there is little justice in Justice Court for people who cannot afford to pay medical bills. Courtesy Charles Lee/MCJ

A year after the man’s response, a trial date was set. He said he had to wait about half a day in the courtroom for his case to be heard. Hollis Cobb had about 10 to 15 trials scheduled that day, he recalled, but only two other defendants showed up. Both agreed the debt was theirs and signed paperwork.

When it was his turn, the man said he made his argument. Hollis Cobb denied his claims, the man said, but the attorney had no proof at that moment.

The judge ordered a continuance, but there was never another hearing.

The man said he got a call from the attorney working for Hollis Cobb, who claimed they were no longer pursuing the case because it wasn’t worth it.

“What they were really saying is they didn’t have any proof, and I was right,” he said.

The man said he thinks other defendants could be fighting these medical debt lawsuits—and winning—but they either don’t have the knowledge or the resources.

“The average person would not be able to navigate this process without an attorney,” he said.

Cooper Fights Back

Tawana Cooper is still dealing with the fallout from the medical debt lawsuit Smith, Rouchon & Associates filed against her. She sued Smith, Rouchon & Associates in 2016 and resolved the case outside court. But her credit score was not fixed.

Cooper said she spent a year writing letters and emails, making phone calls, gathering evidence and sending documentation to credit bureaus to get her score fixed. At times, she had to take off work to get her credit score fixed. She called it a “nightmare.”

The house her family settled on is “a lot smaller than what we truly wanted,” Cooper said, and now her mother’s eyesight is failing.

“We really at some point will have no choice but to move her in with us,” Cooper said. “… I just hate that we may have to do it all over again. Buying a home alone is a lot of stress.”

Lawyer Macy Hanson represented Cooper in her civil suit against Smith, Rouchon & Associates. Macy believes debt collectors frequently make mistakes, but most people lack the resources to defend themselves in court.

“The firms that engage in consumer-debt collection work essentially are one-trick ponies. They only do consumer debt-collection work,” Hanson said, calling it a “cottage industry” staffed by armies of paralegals “robo-signing names of attorneys.”

“That’s how the Tawana Cooper situation happened,” Hanson said. “I don’t think they had any attorney look at anything.”

Hanson said he recently received a collection notice from Smith, Rouchon & Associates. He was hospitalized at St. Dominic in August for six days with a suspected case of coronavirus, Hanson said, and now he said he is being improperly billed.

“I love the doctors. I love the nurses. But I don’t like the billing department. The doctors and nurses saved my life, but the billing department …,” Hanson said as his voice trailed off.

See Part 1 of this investigation here.

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'It Broke My Heart': St. Dominic's Debt Collectors' Tactics Cause Lasting Damage - Mississippi Free Press
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