Arrested for not paying student loans debunked

Every so often, I get interesting articles brought to my attention that are relevant to my firm and to my readers.  There are a lot of bizarre and unfair things going on with people carrying student loan debt, but every so often, there’s a tale like this one. “The US Marshalls are arresting people for not paying student loans for private debt collection firms and federal courts are acting as enforcement arms for private industry.”

But Mr. Aker’s story is much more complicated than that, that requires an analysis of the nuance.  Unfortunately a mixture of poor reporting and a societal issue of only reading the cliff notes, has covered up the real tale of Mr. Aker and how he ended up with the US Marshalls at his door.  Mr. Aker’s story is simple: He ignored a federal court Judges orders for YEARS.  All the Judge wanted was for Mr. Aker to show up to Court with his tax return to understand why he could not pay on his student loans.

Let’s look at the evidence, because this goes back a ways.

• November 30, 2006 – Complaint filed.
• April 17, 2007 – Default judgement after Aker failed to answer after being served.
• July 18, 2012 – Order to Show Cause and to Compel
• October 31, 2012 – Order to Show Cause and for Substituted Service
• December 14, 2012 – Failure to Appear and order to Arrest.
• February 11, 2016 – Order to Reimburse US Marshalls for costs of arrest.

In addition to the nearly 30 year old loan, the documentation of attempts to serve Mr. Aker go back a little over nine years. On the one hand, these collection firms seem to have no trouble moving forward with incomplete or even entirely inaccurate documentation, so it is possible that though service was being attempted, there was no actual service to Mr. Aker. This is a he said/she said. Also at issue is the behavior of the US Marshalls and Mr. Aker during the arrest, with both sides pointing fingers. What is certain is that the judge who had this case from start to finish was nine years’ worth of reasonable.

Mr. Aker was not arrested for defaulting on his loan. He was arrested for ignoring court orders.

Again, it is a really bad idea to ignore or annoy a federal judge.  Yes, you are a person with rights, but you are not a special snowflake, but a party in a court of law – and those laws apply to everyone.

Now, if you are in receipt of a summons here is what you should do:

• Show up.

Preferably with someone like me who is a) a lawyer, b) wise in the ways of judges, and c) can look out for you during a legal proceeding.  Even lawyers have lawyers when we need them. Give us a call, and we’ll set up a free consultation to see what we can do for you.