Man Wins $3.2 Million for Harassment by Creditors

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury has awarded nearly $3.2 million to a Calabasas airline pilot who was harassed by creditors for the unpaid bills he said were run up by his ex-wife.

Ralph E. Fernandez, 54, said Citibank and its collection agency made it difficult for him to obtain loans or other credit, garnisheed his wages and almost cost him his job.

When the trial opened Jan. 17, Fernandez said, his TRW credit profile still showed a $2,500 default judgment against him--more than five years after the defendants agreed to cancel the garnishment and forget the judgment.

Jurors decided that the defendants should pay Fernandez $3 million in punitive damages and $182,250 for negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and reporting false credit information.

Ramon Lopez, Fernandez’s attorney, said Friday he has been informed by defense lawyer Kelly McSpadden that Wednesday’s verdict will be appealed. McSpadden was not available for comment.

Fernandez, who was a Western Air Lines pilot, legally separated from his wife early in 1978, then was divorced in March, 1980. In the interim, according to information given the court, Citibank mailed an unsolicited, pre-approved Mastercard application to the home where he no longer lived.

Without his knowledge or consent, the pilot said, his wife signed his name and requested a second card for herself, using it only after their divorce was final. It wasn’t until March, 1983, he said, that he learned Citibank had filed suit for an unpaid balance. He said he called CCS Collection Group to explain, and was told not to worry.

But Fernandez was eventually hit with a default judgment and his wages were garnished. Garnishments were grounds for termination at the air line.

Fernandez said he finally managed to get the defendants to realize their error and to promise that the negative credit information would be removed.

A year later, he said, that still had not been done, so he filed suit. That was in November, 1984.

Since then, he said, he had made several more appeals to have the matter resolved, to no avail.