Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

Firm works with Asset Protection, Foreclosure Defense, Estate Planning, Wills, & Trusts, Probate, Employment, Criminal Law, DUI, Elder Law Guardianship, Gun Trust, NFA Firearms, Gun rights, Probate, Probate Litigation, Trusts, Trust Litigation.

The Nazareth Law Firm is a boutique law firm which concentrates the majority of its practice on consumer bankruptcy and commercial litigation. We strive to provide our clients with the highest quality legal services.

This website is dedicated to providing our clients with answers to nearly all their personal bankruptcy questions and concerns. However, please feel free to call any of our attorneys to schedule a consultation if further information is needed before filing bankruptcy or weighing your financial and legal options.

We are centrally located in downtown Orlando and specialize in serving debtors out of the Federal Middle District of Florida Bankruptcy Court which covers Orange, Osceola, Brevard, Seminole and Lake counties. However, we are equipped to handles cases throughout the entire state of Florida.

Bankruptcy At A Glance

Bankruptcy is a very difficult word to say. You are not alone. Last year over 2 million people filed for personal bankruptcy. Moreover, the Orlando Division Middle District of Florida Bankruptcy Court is the 6th busiest bankruptcy court in the nation. The Nazareth Law Firm can help you find information regarding bankruptcy. Our attorneys will help you with this process from start to finish. At The Nazareth Law Firm our attorneys personally draft your bankruptcy petition.

Consultations

We are available for consultations at your convenience and can schedule appointments mornings, afternoons or evenings.

Emergency Filings (Home Foreclosures & Repossessions)

We are available 24/7 to file emergency chapter 13 bankruptcy petitions for those suddenly facing home foreclosures and repossessions. Upon filing for chapter 13 bankruptcy all creditors are automatically stayed from taking any actions to collect on the debt. Violations of this order can result in court awarded damages to the debtor from the violating creditor.

I represent people who : (1) are receiving calls or letters from debt collectors; (2) have inaccurate credit reports; and (3) are being sued by debt collectors.

My clients' credit reporting problems include other people's accounts appearing on my clients' reports (e.g., "mismerged" accounts), identity theft, and credit reports which are inaccurate after the client discharged their debts in bankruptcy. I also represent people whose credit reports have been accessed without a purpose permitted by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Clients often hire me to represent them against debt collectors for many different violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and other laws which govern debt collectors' conduct. My clients' problems have included :(1) false threats of arrest; (2) false threats to sue; (3) calls from the debt collector to employers, friends, and relatives; (4) misrepresentations concerning the debt;
(5) collection lawsuits filed after the statute of limitations had expired; (6) telephone messages and cell phone calls which were improper; and (7)collection letters which are needlessly confusing to consumers.

Many of my clients hired me to represent them against debt collectors and other creditors who failed to update their credit report, continued to call or write them and even sued them attempting to collect discharged debts.

I frequently represent consumers who are being sued by debt collectors.

I do not represent any businesses against consumers.

Finally, I represent relators in qui tam actions brought under the False Claims Act (often referred to as "whistleblower" cases). I represented Francine Mettevelis and Rhea Rowan in United States ex rel Francine Mettevelis & Rhea Rowan vs. Charter Behavioral Health System. Charter Hospital fraudulently admitted hundreds of elderly patients who typically suffered from conditions which could not be treated or which were already being adequately treated in their long term care facility by changing the diagnosis to a treatable condition in order to admit the patients to a "lock down" psychiatric unit in Kissimmee, Florida, and providing minimal if any psychiatric or therapeutic treatment. The exploitation of these seniors was even offensive because most of these patients were "total care" patients and received this high level of care in their nursing home while such care was inadequate while at Charter Hospital. This case along with a similar case arising in Oklahoma established the then-controversial proposition that health care providers claims for payment could be deemed "false claims" when the quality of care was inadequate. After four years of complex litigation, Charter agreed to pay the United States and the relators $ 4,578,000.

Steve Fahlgren is a general practioner in Hilliard, Florida. He handles most types of civil litigation but does not take cases against consumers and does not practice criminal law. For a listing of practice areas, please see them below.

Mr. Fahlgren also practices debt collection defense and credit litigation throughout Florida. He is AV rates (the highest) by Martindale-Hubbell, the oldest and most widely used lawyer rating service. Mr. Fahlgren recognizes that credit reputation is becoming even more important every day. For over four years, Mr. Fahlgren has represented consumers exclusively in consumer litigation matters. During his more than eleven years of experience, Mr. Fahlgren has represented consumers in litigation relating to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Florida's Consumer Collection Practices Act, Florida's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Consumer Leasing Act, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, Florida's Motor Vehicle Retail Sales Finance Act, Florida's Motor Vehicle Repair Act, Florida's Title Loan Act, Florida's Motor Vehicle Lease Disclosure Act, Florida's False Advertising law, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Fair Housing Act, and has also handled claims involving fraud, negligent misrepresentation, conversion, civil theft, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, assault, battery, false imprisonment, and restitution. Mr. Fahlgren has litigated credit report errors and is very experienced in all facets of Fair Credit Report Litigation from the credit dispute letters to the requirement that credit bureaus maintain reasonable procedures to ensure maximum possible accuracy.

Mr. Fahlgren handles cases in the following Florida counties and occasionally handles cases outside of those counties when the circumstances merit: Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Flagler, Hamilton, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Suwannee, Union, Citrus, Lake, Marion, Sumter, Brevard, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Volusia, Hardee, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hendry and Lee. Mr. Fahlgren handles cases in the following Florida cities, among others: Jacksonville, Bryceville, Hilliard, Orlando, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Daytona Beach, Deland, Haines City, Altamonte Springs, Apopka, Bartow, Casselberry, Cocoa, Edgewood, Fort Meade, Atlantic Beach, Celebration, Deltona, Eustis, Eagle Lake, Fort Myers, Hawthorne, Holly Hill, Lady Lake, Lake Wales, Maitland, Neptune Beach, Palm Bay, Lake alfred, Lake Mary, Melbourne Beach, Mount Dora, Ocoee, Orange Park, Keystone Heights, Oviedo, Ponce Inlet, Indialantic, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Leesburg, Longwood, Minneola, Clermont, New Smyrna, Palatka, Port Orange, Brevard, St. Cloud, Tavares, Winter Garden, Winter Springs, Sanford, Tampa, Winter Haven, and Winter Park. Many of Mr. Fahlgren's clients cannot afford to pay on an hourly basis, so Mr. Fahlgren often takes cases on a contingency fee basis if the client's expectations are reasonable.

After graduating with Honors from the University of Florida College of Law, Mr. Fahlgren began his legal career practicing commercial litigation and collection law at Foster & Kelly, P.A. He then joined Fisher, Rushmer, et al and expanded his practice to the areas of consumer litigation and employment litigation. Mr. Fahlgren left Fisher, Rushmer et al. to form his own firm, Law Offices of Steven M. Fahlgren, P.A., to focus on consumer litigation. Mr. Fahlgren, who formerly served as a Counterintelligence Agent in the U.S. Army, is a member of the Florida Bar, the State Bar of Georgia, all state and federal courts in Florida, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Fahlgren is a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the Florida Academy of Trial Lawyers, and is a graduate of Leadership Orlando Class 48.

Mr. Fahlgren has published various articles on Consumer Law. Over the years, Mr. Fahlgren has lectured on computer law and internet related issues and has provided information in in numerous stories for television, radio and newspapers. For over a year, Mr. Fahlgren hosted a popular radio show entitled "For the Consumer" on AM 950 WTLN in Orlando.

Mr. Fahlgren also handles a very select few cases involving employment law matters. He has filed claims for age discrimination, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, retaliation, unpaid wages, Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Family Medical Leave Act. Mr. Fahlgren's jury trial experience includes a patent infringement trial lasting in excess of five weeks and a ground breaking same-sex sexual harassment trial in which Mr. Fahlgren's client obtained a jury verdict for an amount in excess of one million dollars.

In November 2007, Mr. Fahlgren and his co-counsel obtained a record $2.9 million dollar verdict against Equifax for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Mr. Fahlgren is also a Certified Circuit Civil Mediator and has fulfilled the arbitrator training required by the Supreme Court of Florida for court appointed arbitrators. Having represented both sides in his career, Mr. Fahlgren is a successful mediator.

For more information, please feel free to contact Mr. Fahlgren's office by contacting me at (904) 845-2255 or my cell (407) 852-1711. My email for potential clients is stevefahlgren@gmail.com