A number of stories have recently appeared in bankruptcy and consumer rights blogs suggesting that the Atlanta based collection firm Mann, Bracken, LLC has gone out of business. On his Caveat Emptor blog, Minnesota bankruptcy attorney Sam Glover has written several posts about the Mann, Bracken firm including one on December 22, 2009 stating that the calls to the firm’s phone number instructs callers to communicate directly with their creditors. I called several numbers listed for Mann, Bracken but the calls were answered by a message that “all circuits are busy, try your call again later.”
Although based in Atlanta, Mann, Bracken has a national practice and it has apparently been growing by merging with other law firms. I found a web site called paymbw.com which purports to be a payment gateway for debtors to make electronic check or credit card payments on debts being handled by Mann, Bracken. This site notes that Mann, Bracken is the successor by merger to Wolpoff & Abramson L.L.P., and Eskanos & Adler P.C., two collection law firms well known to debtor’s lawyers.
The domain mbllc.com has a “coming soon” page and the registration information for that domain is private. I looked up the contact information for the partners. Douglas Mann’s shows him as an inactive lawyer affiliated with Mann, Bracken. Chris Bracken’s registration shows a gmail.com email address, a business address at Mann, Bracken’s location, but the space for the law firm information is blank. Two other partners – Bill Layng and Steve Knezo – are now affiliated with other law firms.
Atlanta TV station WSB sent a crew to the Mann, Bracken offices and found deserted premises along with handwritten placards stating that the firm has closed down. According to WSB, Mann, Bracken was associated with a large debt collector called Axiant, which is now in Chapter 7.
Based on all the information I can gather, the law firm of Mann, Bracken is no more. However the demise of this firm does not mean that debts owed to clients of Mann, Bracken or Axiant are no longer collectible. Apparently another large debt buyer/collector, NCO, has purchased or is about to purchase Axiant’s accounts.
If you had a deal with Mann, Bracken to settle your debt, you may find that the underlying creditor or a subsequent collection agency may not honor your deal – so hold on to any paperwork you may have. As attorney Glover notes on his blog, you should contact your creditor directly if you have previously been dealing with Mann, Bracken.