Daily Briefs

Circuit Court rejects student loan claims by National Collegiate


An Ingham County Circuit Court has rejected an effort by National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts to sue a Michigan student for more than $175,000 in alleged student-loan debt, including disputed fees and interest.

Three separate lawsuits were filed in Ingham County against a former student at Northwood University in Midland, Michigan. All were rejected by the court which ruled that National Collegiate did not have a legal right to sue.

Daniel J. McCarthy, an appellate and litigation attorney with the Birmingham, Michigan, law firm of Lippitt O’Keefe Gornbein, PLLC, successfully argued on the student’s behalf. He also pointed out that the alleged debt was possibly satisfied through The Educational Resources Institute.

“National Collegiate has filed thousands of similar lawsuits throughout the country in what amounts to a full-scale judicial assault against unsuspecting former students,” McCarthy added.

More than 4,000 former students in Michigan alone might be subject to lawsuits for the recovery of more than $30 million in alleged student-loan debt, according to McCarthy. He said that many of these individuals do not have the ability to mount a defense against large national companies with legal and financial resources such as National Collegiate.

Less than two years ago, McCarthy successfully defended a Wayne State University student against 11 lawsuits brought by National Collegiate for the payment of student-loan debts allegedly totaling more than $120,000.

 

Couple accused of sex crimes to stand trial
 

HUDSONVILLE, Mich. (AP) — A western Michigan couple has been ordered to stand trial on allegations they tried to entice their daughter’s teen friends for sex.

A judge has ordered 42-year-olds Anuj and Leslie Chopra of the Hudsonville area bound over for trial in Ottawa County Circuit after their probable-cause hearings regarding various sex crimes concluded Tuesday.

Anuj Chopra is charged with human trafficking after a witness testimony alleges he offered to pay two 16-year-old boys $1,000 if he could film them having sex.

Leslie Chopra is accused of sending obscene materials to minors and using a computer to commit a crime after allegedly sending sexually explicit messages and photos to one of the boys over Snapchat.

Defense attorney Damian Nunzio says the charges should be dismissed and that Anuj’s proposition was a joke.

 

ACC Michigan presents The Second City?
 

Join ACC MI at their summer social from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 28 at Stagecrafters, The Baldwin Theatre, 415 S. Lafayette Ave. in Royal Oak. Meet fellow in-house counsel for drinks and appetizers at 5:30. Sponsored by Clark Hill, a performance by The Second City will begin at 6:30. Members can bring an in-house counsel guest for free by using promo code ACCGUEST1. Register at http://www.acc. com/chapters/mich/.

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