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Wondering if I might have a case.

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mdcoastie

Junior Member
History
I am a member of the U.S. Coast Guard, back in 2005 I attempted to take several college courses but because of internet connectivity problems aboard the cutter I was sationed on at the time, I was unable to complete the courses or drop them by the required drop/add date. Upon retutrning to home port I sent the university a statement detailing the issues that caused my situation. I never heard anything else after this to include this debt never appearing on my credit report.

Current
I was less than a week from graduating from Avionics Electrical Technician A-School when I discovered that my pcs advances had been liquidated through the treasury offset program. I was in no way aware that they were going to do this. When I went to my command to seek advice on the situation, after spending the better parts of two days in the Administrative Officers office being questioned harshly about this and other issues, I was summarily disenrolled from the school and they are processing me for discharge from the CG without even a mast or any type of hearing.

Ultimate Question
Since this situation began I have been told by a number of people that I need to contact an attorney and begin the process of filing a lawsuit against the University of Maryland University College as well as the Maryland Central Collection Unit seeking compensation for irreperably damaging my career in the military in the fact that I was not notified of a judgement against me or that they intended to intercept any federal payments made to me by treasury offset. Also that I was not aware that the debt was even valid as it did not appear on my credit report. I am trying to find out if I may in fact have a case against the University, what kind of attorney I should contact, and how I should go about finding that type of attorney. I have also been told that I need to find an attorney that would take the case on a contingency.

Any help or advice on this situation that anyone could offer would be greatly appreciated.

I just found out that CGHQ just turned down the discharge package that was sent up. I am still interested in filing a suit against UMUC if I have a case against them.
 
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jdawg83

Member
Great that you weren't discharged and we all appreciate you serving your country.

My first recommendation would be to follow up with the school, if it was an honest error, your wasting your time pursing a lawsuit. See if they will forgive the debt because of your situation, your a service member doing active duty training, and things got hectic. You also say you mailed the University a letter. First thing a lawyer or judge will ask you...Prove it. You can say you mailed it...they can say they never received anything from you, he said/she said 50-50 burden of proof is on you, you will lose. Even if you can prove you mailed it, they don't HAVE to forgive a debt if it is legit, 51-49 in favor of them..end result you lose.

Its hard when you are a party to a lawsuit to be impartial, while you may feel that you were wronged, the university probably felt that it was someone trying to skip out on tuition and sent you to collections My advice is to try and work it out administratively.

IF you can prove that the collection agency did you a disservice more power to you go ahead and sue them, but you won't get much. You can contact them and request their collection records, to see if they followed the Collection laws (FDCPA) although some won't give them to you voluntarily, the ones that don't you would have to sue/have a lawyer sue them, and request them through discovery.
 
Last edited:

SHORTY LONG

Senior Member
Duplicate post! https://forum.freeadvice.com/military-law-92/wondering-if-i-might-have-case-439010.html

history
i am a member of the u.s. Coast guard, back in 2005 i attempted to take several college courses but because of internet connectivity problems aboard the cutter i was sationed on at the time, i was unable to complete the courses or drop them by the required drop/add date. Upon retutrning to home port i sent the university a statement detailing the issues that caused my situation. I never heard anything else after this to include this debt never appearing on my credit report.

current
i was less than a week from graduating from avionics electrical technician a-school when i discovered that my pcs advances had been liquidated through the treasury offset program. I was in no way aware that they were going to do this. When i went to my command to seek advice on the situation, after spending the better parts of two days in the administrative officers office being questioned harshly about this and other issues, i was summarily disenrolled from the school and they are processing me for discharge from the cg without even a mast or any type of hearing.

ultimate question
since this situation began i have been told by a number of people that i need to contact an attorney and begin the process of filing a lawsuit against the university of maryland university college as well as the maryland central collection unit seeking compensation for irreperably damaging my career in the military in the fact that i was not notified of a judgement against me or that they intended to intercept any federal payments made to me by treasury offset. Also that i was not aware that the debt was even valid as it did not appear on my credit report. I am trying to find out if i may in fact have a case against the university, what kind of attorney i should contact, and how i should go about finding that type of attorney. I have also been told that i need to find an attorney that would take the case on a contingency.

Any help or advice on this situation that anyone could offer would be greatly appreciated.

I just found out that cghq just turned down the discharge package that was sent up. I am still interested in filing a suit against umuc if i have a case against them.
 

mdcoastie

Junior Member
Why I posted the same thing twice

Shorty,
I made the same post in two areas so that I would get a broader range of views.
 

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