Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced Friday that his office has filed a consumer fraud lawsuit against Legal Aid National Services.
Suthers’ suit, filed in Denver District Court on Jan. 29, also names as defendants the company’s founder and president, Kendrick E. White, 50; his wife, Jasmine Ewing, 35; and White’s half brother Derrich E. Brown, 64, said Nate Strauch, a spokesman for Suthers.
Suthers’ office filed a temporary restraining order against the company, freezing its bank accounts and preventing the defendants from advertising or accepting money for “legal services” of any kind, Strauch said.
“We believe that the defendants preyed upon lower-income consumers with confusing business names and false promises of legal aid,” Suthers said.
Clients were charged for legal advice by staffers with little or no legal training, Strauch said.
Defendants filed poorly drafted documents that were routinely rejected in court, he said. Other clients received no documents at all, despite paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
The defendants purposely put “legal aid” in the business name to confuse people looking for free or low-cost legal services. Sales representatives answered their phones by saying “legal aid” to further confuse people, Strauch said.
The Colorado Supreme Court’s Office of Attorney Regulation participated in the investigation after complaints to the Better Business Bureau and Colorado Legal Services Corp.
Other defendants in the suit include Legal Aid National Paralegal Services Division Inc., which also goes by National Document Preparation Services, National Document Filing and National Document Service Filing.
Legal Aide Divorce Services as well as Ed Brown Management Inc. are also named as defendants.
