Comprehensive investigative work by the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA), assisting the Office of the Los Angeles County Counsel Affirmative Litigation & Consumer Protection Division (LACC) has resulted in a $60,000 settlement against a Los Angeles-based collection company for court judgments.
The civil complaint named Van Nuys Financial, which also operates under the alias business names Master Financial of California, Inc., Master Financial 2000, and Fleetwood Financial, as well as its owner-operators, John Ezra Sutton, Mark Zohar Sutton aka Zohar Sutton, and Rachel Sutton, collectively referred to as Van Nuys Financial (VNF).
The settlement resolves claims in a 2019 lawsuit filed by LACC against VNF. The lawsuit alleged VNF took advantage of consumers who had won money judgments in small claims court but who had not been able to collect those judgments. Contacting them through unsolicited telephone calls, and direct mail, VNF would encourage consumers who had prevailed in small claims court to assign their unsatisfied monetary judgments to VNF. After realizing the difficulty of collecting their judgments, consumers entered into written contracts with VNF and assigned their judgments to them. In exchange for the assignment, VNF would keep an agreed-upon percentage of the money collected, usually 30 to 40%, and would promise to remit the rest to the consumers.
The lawsuit alleged false advertising and misrepresentation because of VNF’s pattern and practice of collecting on an assigned judgment but failing to notify consumers that they had done so. Additionally, on these occasions, VNF either did not provide the original judgment creditors any payment of the collected funds or they provided them some lesser amount.
Read the final judgment
Small claims court litigants who believed they should receive monetary restitution from this settlement with Van Nuys Financial, had an opportunity to review and complete a Notice of Restitution & Settlement Claim Form.
Any consumer who was willing to agree to the restitution terms listed in the Notice of Restitution must have submitted to DCBA a completed and signed Claim Form, a copy of the Acknowledgment of Assignment of Judgment to VNF that was filed with the court and date-stamped by the court, and a copy of their government-issued photo ID. The Claim Form must have been submitted to DCBA on or before August 12, 2021.
Any Claim Forms or missing mandatory documentation related to an incomplete Claim submitted to the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs by email or fax after August 12, 2021, or by mail postmarked after August 12, 2021, will not be accepted.
Notice of Restitution and Claim Form
Claim forms are no longer being accepted.
How to Submit Your Claim Form
Claim Forms needed to be submitted on or before August 12, 2021 by mail or email. The Claim Form needed to be filled out in its entirety.
By Mail
Claims must have been submitted by mail, postmarked on or before August 12, 2021, to:
Rose Basmadzhyan, Chief
County of Los Angeles
Department of Consumer and Business Affairs
320 W. Temple Street, Room G-10
Los Angeles, CA 90012
By Email
Claims must have been submitted by email on or before August 12, 2021, to Rose Basmadzhyan: investigations@dcba.lacounty.gov
