State Mulls Legislative Changes that May Affect Debt Collectors

Thanks to coverage by the Boston Globe in a series called Debtors? Hell, two judges who oversee the Massachusetts district court system said last night that they have launched a series of reforms designed to address “issues” in the courts’ treatment of debtors raised in a Globe Spotlight Team series.

Reforms include retraining for judges and clerks, new efforts to make debtors aware of their rights, and possible legislation aimed at curbing abuses by debt collectors.

In a joint statement, Lynda M. Connolly, the chief justice of the Massachusetts District Courts, and Robert A. Mulligan, the chief justice for administration and management for all of the state trial courts, said the legislative changes they may seek include one to prevent collectors from seizing cars from most debtors.

So: good day for debtors. Not great for collectors in Boston.

It?s easy, of course, to be pro-consumer when they?re your bread and butter. Like, for instance, if you?re a newspaper. And it?s easy to be pro-consumer when your livelihood doesn?t necessarily depend on people paying you for your service. Like, for instance, a judge. But for others out there who have legitimately traded goods or services in the hopes of being paid ? and then, of course, not being paid ? the rulings might smack of too much of the bending over of the backwards kind.

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