Upsolve, Inc. et al v. James

Filing 7

DECLARATION of Gregory Silbert in Support re: 5 MOTION for Preliminary Injunction .. Document filed by Rev. John Udo-Okon, Upsolve, Inc.. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 1 - Rohan Pavuluri Declaration, # 2 Exhibit 2 - Rev. John Udo-Okon Declaration (Part 1), # 3 Exhibit 2 -Rev. John Udo-Okon Declaration (Part 2), # 4 Exhibit 2 - Rev. John Udo-Okon Declaration (Part 3), # 5 Exhibit 3 - Professor Tashi Lhewa Declaration, # 6 Exhibit 4 - Professor Pamela Foohey Declaration, # 7 Exhibit 5 - William "Tyler" Evertsen Declaration, # 8 Exhibit 6 - Liz Jurado Declaration, # 9 Exhibit 7 - Christopher Lepre Declaration).(Silbert, Gregory)

Exhibit 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

UPSOLVE, INC., et al.,
Plaintiffs,
-v-

Case No.

LETITIA JAMES, Attorney General of New York,
Defendant.

DECLARATION OF PAMELA FOOHEY
1. My name is Pamela Foohey. I am over the age of twenty-one and competent to testify
to the matters set forth in this Declaration. Unless otherwise indicated, the facts stated herein
are based on my review of one document, the Justice Advocate Training Guide prepared by
the American Justice Movement Consumer Rights Project, which is part of Upsolve, and my
personal knowledge.
2. I am a tenured Professor of Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva
University. Prior to joining the Cardozo School of Law, I was a tenured Professor of Law at
Indiana University Maurer School of Law, from 2020 to 2021, an Associate Professor of Law
at Indiana University Maurer School of Law, from 2014 to 2020, and a Visiting Professor of
Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, from 2012 to 2014. I received my B.S. in

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2004 from New York University, undergraduate Stern School of Business, and my J.D. in 2008
from Harvard Law School.
3. My teaching and research focus on bankruptcy, consumer finance, and commercial law.
In the course of my research, I have focused on debt collection, debt collection defense, and
debt collection’s intersection with people filing bankruptcy. A portion of my research is
empirical, including surveying people about their pre-bankruptcy financial issues, which
include dealing with collection lawsuits filed by creditors and debt collectors in state courts.
4. Among other articles, my recent research on these topics includes:
x

Portraits of Bankruptcy Filers, 56 Ga. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2022) (with Robert
M. Lawless and Deborah Thorne)

x

The Debt Collection Pandemic, 11 Cal. L. Rev. Online 222 (2020) (with Dalié
Jiménez and Christopher K. Odinet);

x

Fines, Fees, and Filing Bankruptcy, 98 N.C. L. Rev. 419 (2020);

x

Debt’s Emotional Encumbrances, Edward Elgar Research Handbook on Law and
Emotion (Susan A. Bandes, Jody Lynee Madeira, Kathryn Temple, and Emily Kidd
White eds. 2020);

x

A New Deal for Debtors: Providing Procedural Justice in Consumer Bankruptcy,
60 B.C. L. Rev. 2297 (2019); and

x

Life in the Sweatbox, 94 Notre Dame L. Rev. 219 (2018) (with Robert M. Lawless,
Katherine Porter, and Deborah Thorne).

5. Through my research, I have observed the struggles faced by many self-represented
people in debt collection proceedings. People often fail to adequately assert their legal interests
and rights.
6. Through my research, I also have observed that people lack access to free legal services
to assist them in responding to debt collection lawsuits.

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7. Failure to raise potentially meritorious affirmative defenses in and an inability to access
free legal services to defend debt collection lawsuits can lead to wage garnishment, seizure of
bank accounts, eviction from housing, repossession of automobiles, and harm to credit scores.
8. Judgments in debt collection proceedings also lead people to file bankruptcy to stop
wage garnishments, evictions, and repossessions, and to repair their credit reports and credit
scores, which is costly and time-consuming.
9. I have closely reviewed the entire Justice Advocate Training Guide prepared by the
American Justice Movement Consumer Rights Project, with an emphasis on the portion of the
Training Guide pertinent to the defense that people can raise in debt collection proceedings.
10. Based on my knowledge, the Training Guide provides non-lawyers sufficient
information and resources that they need to help unrepresented individuals respond to debt
collection complaints such that people will have the opportunity to raise potentially meritorious
defenses to the complaints. An unrepresented individual, who is unable to receive free legal
services, who receives personalized advice based on the Training Guide will be better off than
if they did not receive such advice.
11. In part because I want to avoid any possibility of liability under rules governing the
unauthorized practice of law, my review of and endorsement of the Training Guide is limited
to the accuracy of the substantive information about asserting affirmative defenses in
responding to debt collection lawsuits. To be clear: I do not endorse any statements in the
Training Guide and attached exhibits that the Justice Advocate may provide or is or will be
providing legal advice.

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12. Given the limited resources available to unrepresented individuals in debt collection
proceedings, particularly during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, when debt collection
proceedings are predicted to increase, allowing individuals who are not lawyers to provide
carefully tailored and circumscribed assistance will significantly enhance low-income New
Yorkers’ ability to assert their legal rights in court.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my
knowledge. Executed the 20th day of December, 2021.

Pamela Foohey

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