Consumer complaint received 2025-02-12 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action — Threatened to sue you for very old debt
Company: Stenger & Stenger, P.C
State: MN

Complaint narrative:
Dear XXXX XXXX, XXXX I received your sheaf papers. Of note, you cite the XXXX XXXX Warning on the cover page, which identifies you as a debt collection agency under Minnesota law. Its been six ( 6 ) months since I last heard a word from you! This matter does not appear to be considered by your client or your firm to be urgent or even pressing. Also of note, you have not removed this debt, as I requested in XXXX, from my credit report. This has resulted in a lower credit score and damage to my credit worthiness. 

Your employee, XXXX, swore under oath that she, on the XXXX of XX/XX/year>, did serve a copy of the paperwork by first class mail, postage paid. The word serve is a verb. It implies action. 

The documents contained in the packet are dated the afternoon of Friday, XX/XX/year>. The XXXX postmark is dated Monday, XX/XX/year>. Of note, this postmark was not made by the USPS. I received the envelope via the USPS on the evening XX/XX/year>. It should be noted that I have received mail from hurricane ravaged, flood decimated, and tornado impacted areas of XXXX North Carolina within 3 days, yet for some reason, your envelope took seven ( 7 ) days to go from Michigan to Minnesota. The lack of urgency and lack of care is demonstrative of the mounting bad faith and deceitful efforts on your part to intimidate, deceive, and harass me and to otherwise skirt the law. This is unacceptable and unprofessional. It goes without saying that XXXX XXXX can be compelled to testify under oath as to when she physically transferred custody of the sheaf of papers to the USPS for delivery. This is important because the delayed arrival of the packet has given me only 3 days to respond even though I am not required to by law. 

We have no preexisting relationship in which I agreed to acceptance by silence. As you absolutely are aware, silence does not equal acceptance under the law. I consider this another showing of bad faith, misrepresentation of the law, and outright deceit on your part. 

For those in the back of the room, I do not consent to any settlement, discovery, or any other agreement with you, your firm, or your client. Should you proceed as you threaten in the paperwork, despite my stated refusal ( s ) to accept anything from you or your client via silence, I will consider such action another act of bad faith, misrepresentation, and outright willful deceit. I consider you, your client and your firm to be engaging in an ongoing, repeated, willful pattern of harassment, deception, misrepresentation and intimidation, as well. Stop harassing me. 

You boldly state in your letter you are conferring on a discovery plan pursuant to MN Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 26.06. We also have a problem, XXXX XXXX. A big one. Rule 26.06 applies to discovery during an active case. We do not have an active case. You have filed nothing with the Court. There is no active lawsuit, therefore Rule 26.06 does not apply. It does not authorize pre-lawsuit discovery or confer any right for a law firm or debt collection agency to compel discovery before a case begins. Attempting to convince me it does is yet another sign of bad faith, deceit and misrepresentation on your part. You are trying to use the law to deceive me. Absolutely shameful. 

Perhaps you were thinking of MN Rule 27? Of course, to engage that Rule, you would need the approval of the court through a petition process. You do not possess such approval, nor do you even have an active lawsuit! 

I am under XXXX moral or legal obligation to engage in any discovery process, conference, discussion or plan with you. What we have here is simply a pen pal correspondence filled with your misrepresentative legal word salad intended to harass me, intimidate me, deceive me and coerce me in to settling with you and your client. I must reiterate, for at least the third time : I am not agreeing to anything with you or your client. I do not agree to settle or confer. I do not agree to any information you have sent me- unless otherwise stated in my Answer. 

As stated in my previous letter dated XX/XX/year>, I am hereby requesting this matter be closed immediately and considered resolved for the reasons stated in my Answer and contained in this letter. Your case lacks merit and standing and is being done in willful bad faith. I would appreciate the courtesy of a letter from your firm stating the matter is closed, that you will be removing this alleged debt from my credit report ( s ) within thirty ( 30 ) calendar days from receipt of this letter, and that you nor your client will be reselling this alleged debt. 

Failure to close this matter and remove the alleged debt will be interpreted by me as another act of bad faith, deceit, misrepresentation, harassment, and intimidation. Minnesota Statute 541.053 prohibits collecting on an alleged debt that is past the statute of limitations, which I discussed in my Answer. Although this alleged debt is not mine, even if it were, the statute of limitations applies in this case and you know this, or at least should. 

Please take note : The Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct, in particular Rules 4.1 and 8.4 prohibit you from making knowingly false statements of law to a third party and from engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation, and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice. Should a lawyer knowingly engage in these behaviors they could be subject to disciplinary action by the Minnesota XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. One could also request sanctions from the judge should this proceed to an active lawsuit. 

I am fully prepared to use all recourse and remedies available to me including, but not limited to, filing a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Commerce and the Attorney General. Additionally, you are in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( FDCPA ). Should this proceed to litigation I will be pursuing my available recourse under this Act. 

I am also fully prepared to litigate this matter, should XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, or any affiliate, assignee, partner, agent, future debt buyer, or representative continue to make any further attempts to collect on or litigate this alleged debt.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation