LITTLE ROCK — A judgment that Attorney General Dustin McDaniel won for the state of Arkansas against a debt collector was overturned Thursday by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
The high court reversed and dismissed the judgment against Jack H. Boyajian, who was ordered by a Pulaski County circuit judge last year to pay a $194,000 civil penalty for 776 violations of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
McDaniel said Thursday in a written statement, “While I respect the Court’s decision, I am deeply troubled by its far-reaching effect on Arkansas consumers and the likely harm that will result.”
McDaniel had filed a lawsuit accusing Boyajian of “badgering and harassing” Arkansas residents in attempts to collect debts, sometimes using threats of civil or criminal action and sometimes targeting people who owed nothing. The debts were for dishonored checks, phone bills and medical bills.
McDaniel sued Boyajian in 2007 along with two law offices he formerly ran in California. At the time, Boyajian was licensed to practice law in California, though he surrendered his license in 2009 after that state’s bar association took action against him.
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Boyajian argued on appeal that his actions were carried out in the practice of law and that the Deceptive Trade Practices Act does not apply to the practice of law. The Supreme Court agreed.
“The practice of law cannot be regulated by an act of the General Assembly because the regulation of the practice of law is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the judiciary,” Chief Justice Him Hannah wrote in the court’s unanimous opinion.
McDaniel said Thursday he respects the authority of the judicial branch of government to govern lawyers’ conduct but he does not believe that authority is absolute.
“Lawyers are penalized if they don’t pay their taxes. Lawyers go to prison if they commit a crime. Lawyers pay civil penalties if they violate any other Arkansas law. Why should this be any different? It’s simple. It should not,” he said.
Boyajian also has been sued over his debt collection practices in Colorado, Connecticut and New York.
Calls to a listed number for Boyajian Law Offices in Rutherford, N.J., went unanswered Thursday.