Consumer Rights

Consumer fraud attorney Robert Murphy is a trial lawyer who practices in the areas of consumer litigation in Florida and across the country. In over 25 years of practice, he has actively litigated cases under almost every aspect of the federal and Florida consumer protection laws. He has acted as lead counsel in the litigation of cases both individually and on a class basis in almost every venue in Florida. He is dedicated to advancing the consumer rights of Americans through both courtroom advocacy and the education of families and individuals concerning consumer protection laws.

Practice Areas: Consumer Class Action, Consumer Protection, Complex Civil Litigation Rachel Bentley has dedicated her practice to advocating on behalf of consumers who have been victims of corporate wrongdoing and scams. Ms. Bentley is an attorney with Gordon and Partners class action team and litigates consumer protection cases and complex consumer fraud class action cases. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Bentley prosecuted violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act as an Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection Division of the Florida Attorney General’s Office. Before serving as an Assistant Attorney General, Ms. Bentley was the Senior Staff Attorney of the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, Inc.’s Consumer Advocacy Unit, where she protected the rights of disadvantaged members of the community and represented indigent consumers who were wronged by businesses and fraudsters. Ms. Bentley is a Co-Chair of the Florida Bar’s Consumer Protection Law Committee’s Legislative Subcommittee and serves on the Board of Directors of the Young Lawyers Section of the Palm Beach County Bar Association. She is a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates and a scholar of the National Consumer Law Center. Ms. Bentley earned her undergraduate degree from Florida State University and Juris Doctor from Florida International University School of Law.

Craig has been a protecting consumers’ rights nationwide for more than 15 years, focusing his practice on lawsuits brought under consumer-protection statutes like the Fair Credit Reporting Act. He helps consumers enforce their rights regarding not only the inaccuracies that pervade credit and background-check reports, but also as to reporting companies’ and employers’ failures to abide by the law in selling and using those reports. He also has represented clients with problems relating to identity theft, mortgages, and disputes with auto sellers and finance companies. Litigating mainly class-action cases, Craig has represented thousands of consumers in successfully obtaining millions in benefits for class members and has been appointed class counsel by numerous courts across the country. He is licensed to practice law in four states, and maintains a national practice. As a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, Craig assists in educating other lawyers on all aspects of consumer litigation, from discovery, to raising and briefing key issues, and through settlement value and case resolution. He also serves as NACA’s Chair for Virginia, a position he has held since 2018. Before joining Consumer Litigation Associates, Craig practiced complex and class-action litigation for ten years at one of the country’s most-successful boutique firms. There, he developed extensive knowledge of the FCRA as well as class-action procedure, having handled nearly every aspect of consumer class actions from intake, to drafting complaints and discovery, successfully defeating dispositive motions, obtaining class certification, valuing cases, and negotiating settlements.

Daniel Schlanger is a partner at Kakalec & Schlanger, LLP, where he heads the firm's consumer practice. His practice focuses on representing victims of unfair collection tactics, predatory lending, hidden fees, auto fraud, defective products, and other marketplace injustice. The firm brings affirmative litigation (including class actions and significant individual claims) on behalf of consumers and also regularly represents consumers who have been sued on significant debts, including credit card debt, medical debt, auto loans, home loans, lines of credit, personal guarantees, etc. Dan joined Kakalec & Schlanger, LLP's predecessor firm (Schlanger & Schlanger) in 2007 after working as a staff attorney at Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, where he was a member of that organization’s consumer law unit, and helped to found a program focused on wage and hour litigation on behalf of low-income workers. Prior to that, Dan clerked for the Hon. R. Lanier Anderson, III on the United States Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit. Dan received his law degree from Harvard Law School, cum laude, in 2004. He received his undergraduate degree from Carleton College, magna cum laude, in 1994.

An experienced and skillful legal advocate, Jeremiah E. Heck is a founding partner at Luftman, Heck & Associates and has practiced law since 2003. Mr. Heck’s practice focuses primarily on consumer and real estate law. As an Ohio consumer law attorney, his practice is weighted most heavily on consumer law where he represents consumers’ rights, including claims based on unfair debt collection practice by creditors, settling claims with creditors, and claims against businesses for unfair or deceptive trade practices. Mr. Heck has been sought out for his knowledge of consumer law. He was interviewed and quoted by SmartMoney.com, a prominent online financial website, regarding his opinions on consumer rights issues. Mr. Heck’s results on behalf of consumers have been featured on national consumer law websites. Mr. Heck’s advocacy on behalf of consumers has earned him a reputation amongst opposing debt companies and law firms and his strategies have been discussed at their conferences. After graduating from Meigs High School in Southeastern Ohio, Mr. Heck joined the United States Army. He completed basic training as a combat engineer at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Mr. Heck was stationed at Camp Howze, Korea in the 44th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division from 1993 to 1994. He was then stationed at Fort Hood, Texas from 1994 through 1996 in the 2nd Armored Division and later in the 4th Infantry Division while holding the rank of Sergeant. Mr. Heck served three years in the Ohio National Guard as a Combat Engineer and three years in the West Virginia National Guard as a Diesel Mechanic. After ten years in the Army, Mr. Heck ended his military career and began study at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. He graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Legal Communications and a minor in Business Administration. Mr. Heck then pursued a Juris Doctorate from Capital University, graduating summa cum laude in 2003. While in law school, Mr. Heck was on the Executive Board for Capital University’s Law Review as Research and Notes Editor. As a part of this Executive Board, a scholarship was started to honor the Most Outstanding Law Review member, which continues to be awarded annually to this day. He also was the Teaching Assistant for Constitution Law and Criminal Law, which lead to his passion for teaching. Mr. Heck currently enjoys teaching Real Estate Law for the Capital University Law School’s Paralegal Program and General Practice, a third year law class, for the Capital University Law School. Mr. Heck’s recent accomplishments are numerous and varied. He was honored as the 2010 Super Lawyers Ohio Rising Star Attorneys. No more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in the state of Ohio are named to the list. Mr. Heck was the only consumer law attorney selected as a 2010 Super Lawyer Rising Star Attorney for the State of Ohio. Mr. Heck has also received this honor in 2011, 2012 and 2013. In 2010, Mr. Heck climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa. In 2012, Mr. Heck had the opportunity to run and finish the Great Wall of China Marathon. Outside of work, Mr. Heck enjoys playing softball with the law firm team and golfing. He is an avid reader and proud owner of Kili, a Siberian husky. He often participates in charity races benefiting dogs and frequently contributes to dog-related causes.

We focus our practice exclusively on consumer protection and class action law. We work on behalf of consumers whose rights had been violated by advertisers, banks and other lenders, auto dealers, credit bureaus, debt collectors and landlords. Consumer protection laws are designed to protect consumers like you from predatory lenders, overzealous debt collectors, careless credit bureaus and other harmful business practices. At our firm, we work to enforce existing consumer protection statutes to resolve consumer problems with: Unfair collection practices/debt collection harassment Unwanted telemarketing calls (robocalls) and spam texts Junk faxes Identity theft Credit reporting problems Mortgage problems

With more than 30 years of experience, attorney Gregory A. Yates brings not only expertise but a highly original approach and unique courtroom savvy to all his clients’ cases — be they large or small. Yates has time and time again done what other lawyers couldn’t when suing on behalf of people injured by defective products, by the carelessness of a landlord, or in an automobile accident, to name just a few of the types of cases handled by Yates’s firm. And one thing he has done more than almost anyone else in his business: win for his clients. Where most lawyers are happy if they can scrape out a win in a relatively small number of lawsuits, Greg Yates has one of the highest success rates in the state of California. The reason is that when Greg Yates takes a case, he plays to win. He represented 60 individuals in suits against the Los Angeles Police Department where he uncovered the corruption of the Rampart division of the department in framing individuals for many different crimes. He has received recognition for motor vehicle defect cases and other product liability cases where his work resulted in manufacturers actually recalling and fixing or reengineering dangerously defective products. He has also been successful in bringing complex catastrophic injury cases including over 100 traumatic brain injury cases.

Robert is a lifetime Lake County resident, born in Libertyville, Illinois, and raised in the neighboring Village of Gurnee. Robert attended Warren Township High School from 2001-05, where he distinguished himself in academics and athletics graduating among the highest in his class and receiving All-Conference football honors. He conducted his undergraduate studies at Illinois State University as a “University Scholarship” recipient, where, in 2009, he graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Studies. Robert was admitted to practice law in the State of Illinois on November 1, 2012. He attended law school at the Northern Illinois University College of Law from 2009-12, graduating Cum Laude in May of 2012. In November of 2012, after a brief bought working for major corporations, Robert opened Tomei Law to assist those in financial distress–specifically, representing consumer rights through foreclosure defense, bankruptcy, auto fraud, and debt collection harassment. In the fall of 2018, Robert, along with three other fine attorneys, Timothy Johnston, Alan Lenczycki, and Michael Goldberg, founded the law firm Johnston Tomei Lenczycki & Goldberg, LLC (JTLG, LLC). JTLG is a full-service law firm and in addition to an office in Gurnee shared with Tomei Law, P.C., JTLG has an office conveniently located in the heart of downtown Libertyville. Having hailed from a family with Lake County roots, it has always been an aspiration of Robert’s to practice law in the community of his upbringing. The inner drive to further that end, coupled with the desire to assist those in distress, led him to pursue a legal career in the Consumer Rights arena where he has successfully taken on consumer foes that include some of the largest banks, debt collectors, and automobile dealerships in the land and as the owner of Tomei Law, P.C. and partner of JTLG, he plans to continue that fight for justice in Consumer Rights well into the future.

Attorney Kimberly Hamel Wochholz is from Kissimmee, Florida. She graduated with honors from the University of Central Florida in 2004. While enrolled at the University of Central Florida she interned with the Legal Aid Society of Orange County Florida; whose principal undertaking is to provide professional legal services for the disadvantaged. Mrs. Wochholz then enrolled in the College of Law at Stetson University. During law school she completed the Honors Program and served as an editor on the Stetson Law Review. She also served as an intern with the family law division of the 13th Judicial Circuit, Hillsborough County, Florida, and later joined the Consumer Rights Law Group as a law clerk. Mrs. Wochholz graduated magna cum laude from Stetson Law and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2011. Since that time, Mrs. Wochholz has proudly litigated against banks, bill collectors, and other companies on behalf of hundreds of consumers. Mrs. Wochholz practices exclusively under consumer protection statutes that require businesses to pay the attorney’s fees of prevailing consumers. These statutes allow attorneys to represent consumers, who often can’t afford to pay an attorney out of pocket, on a contingency basis whereby leveling the playing field between businesses and consumers. She is passionate about holding businesses accountable and protecting her clients.

We give you the leverage you need to make sound decisions when disputes rise to the level of litigation. By quickly and aggressively advancing your interests, we efficiently and effectively move cases toward conclusion, whether by pre-trial settlement, alternative dispute resolution, pre-trial judgment, or trial. Every minute and dime you spend on litigation is time and money taken away from what's important to you. Therefore, we actively prosecute your claims and defenses so that you can focus on what's most important to you.