Sanctions for ‘Deception’ Affirmed Against Pittsburgh Law Firm

Two attorneys and a Pittsburgh law firm were properly sanctioned for engaging in a “campaign of deception,” the Third Circuit affirmed Monday.

J.P. Ward & Associates LLC, Joshua Ward, and Travis Gordon brought “contrived lawsuits” to make “easy money” in Fair Debt Collection Practices Act cases, the court said.

Ward and Gordon sent “made-up, handwritten dispute letters” to manufacture violations of the FDCPA by a debt collector, hoping to recover statutory attorneys’ fees, Judge Stephanos Bibas said for the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

“Courts depend on lawyers’ honesty. Lies, misrepresentations, even half-truths corrode the rule of ...