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Civil Court of the City of New York, Richmond County, December 7, 2009
APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL
Mitchell Norman Kay, New York City, for plaintiff. Titus Assih, defendant pro se.
{**26 Misc 3d at 1017} OPINION OF THE COURT
Philip S. Straniere, J.
Plaintiff, American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc., commenced this action against the defendant, Titus Assih, alleging that the defendant failed to pay credit card charges incurred. A trial was held on November 10, 2009. Plaintiff was represented by counsel. Defendant appeared without an attorney.
Plaintiff's witness testified that the defendant was the holder of an American Express credit card. Beginning in December 2006 defendant began to utilize the card and charge items. Monthly payments as required by the card agreement were made until October 2007. At that time plaintiff alleges the defendant failed to make the minimum payment due which triggered an increase in the interest rate from 12.24% initially to 20.74% and then to 27.79% as well as a late payment charge on the November 5, 2007 bill. The defendant then continued to make small monthly payments in amounts less than the required minimum and ceased making any payments as of January 2008. The defendant asserts that he was not late with any payment when the plaintiff unilaterally and without notice raised the interest rate, so therefore, there was no basis for{**26 Misc 3d at 1018} American Express to have done so. Unable to resolve the dispute with the plaintiff, the defendant ceased making any payments. Interestingly, during the brief period this credit card [*2]was in effect prior to the alleged breach, plaintiff had determined that defendant's initial payment history warranted increasing his credit line from $12,500 to $14,500 in July 2007.
Having dealt with thousands of consumer credit cases over the years, the court is sometimes
caused to wonder if the regulations governing this industry originated in the Wonderful Land of Oz[FN1] and not in the legislatures of the various states and national government. For example, the scene where Dorothy and friends approach the gates of the Emerald City and ring the bell seeking entrance seems to present a number of the issues arising in debt collection litigation.
"guardian of the emerald city gates: Who rang that bell?
"dorothy, scarecrow, cowardly lion, tin woodsman: (together) We did!
"guardian: Can't you read?
"scarecrow: Read what?
"guardian: The notice!
"dorothy: What notice?
"guardian: It's on the door

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