JENKINS, WAGNON & YOUNG, P.C. - Creditors' Law Firm (reviewed)

DEBT COLLECTORS WHO-IS-WHO 

JENKINS, WAGNON & YOUNG, P.C - LAW FIRM PROFILE 

JENKINS, WAGNON & YOUNG, P.C. is debt collection firm operating out of Lubbock, Texas with a state-wide practice. This law firm also represents debt buyers who sue as assignees of banks, not merely banks that originated accounts. Among its clients, all with vast litigation dockets, are Cach, LLC; Equable Ascent Financial, LLC; and Midland Funding, LLC. Many of the assigned accounts are from Chase Bank USA, N.A., more commonly known as "CHASE". 

Attorneys listed on letterhead of Jenkins, Wagnon & Young law firm (2013):

Jody D. Jenkins (who is licensed in New Mexico in addition to Texas)

Dan G. Young (who is also licensed in Oklahoma)

J. Mark Wagnon (who is also a CPA and does mostly transactional work, such as negotiating and drafting contracts)
Brian Benitez (and freshly-minted lawyer who joined JWYLAW recently)
Ian Van Reenen (who also has an MBA)

Two of the attorneys practicing with the lawfirm are also licensed in other states: Jody D. Jenkins in New Mexico, and Dan G. Young in Oklahoma. Jenkins and Young are the attorneys whose names appear on the firm's address block on pleadings filed in debt suits filed in Texas courts. Although the first name implies otherwise, Jody Jenkins is a guy. His middle name is Dewayne.

You can view photos of Attorneys Jenkins, Young, and Wagner on the firm's website.

Both Jody D. Jenkins and Dan G. Young were previously associated with McCLESKEY, HARRIGER, BRAZILL & GRAF, L.L.P.  The same is true of Wagner.

Mailing address: P.O. Box 420 Lubbock, Texas 79408-0420
Street address: 1623 10th Street, Lubbock, Texas 79401
Fax: (806) 771-8755

TYPICAL MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT FILED IN CREDIT CARD DEBT SUITS

Traditional motions for summary judgment filed by Jody Jenkins seek judgment on two alternative theories - breach of contract and account stated; they do not state the amount of damages, even though they contain a factual background section. The damages are instead set forth in a summary judgment affidavit that does double duty as a business records affidavit.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT AFFIANTS AND AFFIDAVITS

In suits by debt buyers/assignees the witness testifying by affidavit is typically a representative of the assignee or the assignee's servicer (e.g. "Legal Specialist" for Midland Credit Management), rather than a custodian of record from the original creditor. 

  

The debt buyer's employees who perform affidavit duty will often have dubious credentials as sponsoring witnesses for business records that were not created by their employer, but by the bank that issued the card. e.g. Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, or HSBC (--> business records affidavit and third-party records). 

  

Sometimes, there is even confusion as to who the issuing bank was, particularly when the account originated with Washington Mutual Bank (“WaMu”) or Providian National Bank (“PNB”). PNB was absorbed into WaMu, but WaMu subsequently failed and the FDIC liquidated its assets. Affiants are low-level employees whose affidavits often not even reflect awareness that WaMu is a failed bank. The correct cardmember agreement is often not included among the summary judgment or trial exhibits.

ATTORNEY FEES

Jenkins and Young routinely plead for attorneys fees. Therefore, their summary judgment motions contain an additional affidavit by the attorney that signed the pleadings. The fee affidavit is marked EXHIBIT B. 
  
Exhibit A is the summary judgment affidavit with all attachments (typically copies account statements, cardmember agreement, and bill of sale and/or other from assignment proof, such as a second affidavit signed by the representative of a bank attesting to the sale and disclaiming any interest in the account at issue).

  

The typical amount of fees attested as reasonable by Jenkins attorneys for work at the trial-court level is $1,500 (hourly rate of $200 x 7.5 hours) (--> Sample attorney fee affidavit of Jody D. Jenkins;  Sample attorney fee affidavit of Dan G.Young).

Attorney Jody Jenkins also requests contingent fees in the amount of $5,000 for the first level of appeal, and $3,500 if a petition for review is filed in the Texas Supreme Court. Not surprisingly, the proposed judgments contain matching dollar figures for the three categories of attorneys' fees. This firm has appellate litigation capability and experience, including appeals from debt collection suits. 

FEE AMOUNT COMPARED TO OTHER DEBT COLLECTION LAW FIRMS

Other attorneys testify that $400-$500 a case is a reasonable amount of fees in routine credit card debt collection cases of similar nature (sometimes involving the same original creditors), or do not seek fees at all. 


LAWFIRM - CORPORATE ENTITY REGISTRATION INFORMATION 

EDITORIAL NOTE: This profile page on the lawfirm of JENKINS, WAGNON, & YOUNG was last revised or updated:  January 23, 2014.