Consumer Protection

I have well over a decade of experience handling complex legal issues in various fields of the law. I look forward to counseling and representing you in any workers' compensation, personal injury, employment law, family law, or consumer/debt collection protection matter.

Kevin Fitzgerald was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and is proud of his Midwestern roots and work ethic. Although neither of his parents are attorneys, Kevin jokes that he was “raised” by plaintiffs’ lawyers. He first began working at a plaintiff’s injury law firm when he was fifteen years old and a sophomore in high school. For the ten years prior to attending law school, Kevin served as a litigation assistant at a national law practice where he worked closely with the firm’s trial team representing clients injured by asbestos-containing products. Kevin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Minors in Geology and Geography from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Kevin attended the University of Maine School of Law where he graduated with honors. During law school, he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Ocean & Coastal Law Journal. Kevin was the recipient of the American Bar Association’s Award for Excellence in Land Use and Local Government Law, an outstanding scholastic achievement award in Environmental Law, and the Horace S. Libby Memorial Scholarship. In 2015, Kevin founded the Fitzgerald Law Group, LLC where he continues to concentrate his practice in representing men, women and children injured by medical devices, prescription drugs, over-the-counter products, asbestos, and in wrongful death and serious personal injury cases. Prior to founding the Fitzgerald Law Group, LLC, Kevin worked for another national mass tort law firm for fourteen years, serving as its managing attorney from 2008 to 2015. During his career, Kevin has played an integral role in developing, commencing and litigating significant injury cases from the initial case investigation stage through trial. He has taken or defended hundreds of depositions of plaintiffs, corporate employees, liability and causation experts, sales representatives and other key witnesses. He has helped identify experts in numerous disciplines and assisted in preparing their testimony for deposition and trial. He has also served as a member of the plaintiffs’ trial team in four national pharmaceutical drug cases, including Schedin v. Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals, Inc., et al. in which the jury returned a $1.6 million verdict in favor of the plaintiff. Over the last fifteen years, Kevin has represented thousands of clients in a wide array of medical device and prescription drug cases as well as other consumer protection matters including Actos, Arava, Avelox, Baycol, Bextra, Biomet Hip Implants, Byetta, Celebrex, Depuy ASR & Pinnacle Hip Implants, Effexor, Ephedra, Fen Phen, Fleet Phospho-Soda, Fosamax, Gadolinium, Levaquin, Lipitor, Mesothelioma, Mirena IUD, Nuvaring, Ortho Evra, Phenylpropanolamine (PPA), Pradaxa, Pravachol, Rezulin, Risperdal, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), Stadol, Stryker Rejuvenate & ABGII Hip Implants, Talcum Powder, Testosterone Replacement Therapy (“Low-T”), Transvaginal Mesh, Trovan, Viagra, Vioxx, Xarelto, Yaz, Zicam, Zimmer Hip Implants, Zithromax, Zofran, Zoloft, Zometa and Zyprexa. In addition to pharmaceutical and medical device cases, Kevin has experience handling wrongful death, personal injury, data breach, Fair Debt Collection Practice Act (FDCPA), and consumer protection cases. Kevin lives in Portland, Maine with his wife, who is also a lawyer, and their three children. The family are members of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Portland. When he is not working late, he enjoys cooking, hiking and fishing throughout the State of Maine, coaching youth athletics, and cheering on his favorite Cleveland sports’ teams.

Carl D'Angio graduated from New England School of Law in 1989 near the top of his class concentrating his studies in the areas of real estate and asset management. After passing the bar he spent 3 years in Washington, D.C. with Ross, Dixon, and Masback, one of the Capital’s preeminent insurance defense firms. He worked on multimillion-dollar cases including Columbia Casualty v. Playtex. Since then he has practiced in Waltham, Massachusetts in a varied civil practice. His uncle, Louis D'Angio, practiced law in Waltham for more than fifty years. The family has had roots in Waltham for more than a century. Carl D'Angio has tried numerous cases in state and federal courts before both judges and juries. He has reached success in personal discrimination and employment cases, automobile accidents, product, and premises liability, construction disputes, consumer protection matters, residential and commercial landlord/tenants disputes, adverse possession litigation, and various other real estate disputes and business litigation. He has represented hundreds of people in personal bankruptcy. He's a proud member of NACBA, the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys. He's had cases in virtually all aspects of the Probate Court including probating of wills, administration of estates, divorce, paternity, guardianships, adoptions, will contests, petitions for partition, child support, and abuse protection orders. Atty. D'Angio prides himself on providing vigorous, common sense solutions to problems in the most efficient and affordable manner possible. Atty. D'Angio lives in Westwood with his wife and three children. He is active (president emeritus) with the Waltham Community Foundation, a local charitable organization that provides funds to other local organizations such as the Salvation Army, Boys Club, Hospice, Farmer's Market, Christmas LightingFund, and the Jewish Guild for the Blind.

James Elliott is a native of Tampa, Florida. After graduating from Tampa Jesuit High School, he attended the University of Florida where he received a Bachelor of Arts, and then continued his education at the Florida State University where he received a Master of Arts. Mr. Elliott received his Juris Doctor degree from the Syracuse University College of Law, where he served as Articles Editor for the Labor Lawyer Journal, and earned a Certificate of Concentration in Corporate Counsel. Mr. Elliott also earned a Certificate in Financial Management from Cornell University, and was named a Super Lawyer rising star in 2017. He has published several articles in various legal journals around the country, including the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal. Mr. Elliott began his career as a judicial extern with a former bankruptcy judge, Judge Stephen D. Gerling of the Northern District of New York. Mr. Elliott then continued to practice bankruptcy law and consumer protection in Tampa, Florida and joined the McIntyre Thanasides law firm in 2010. Mr. Elliott represents clients through personal and business bankruptcy, as well as out-of-court debt restructurings. Whether representing businesses or individuals, Mr. Elliott takes pride in advocating for his clients’ interest and assisting clients in creating financial plans that meet their particular goals. Mr. Elliott is a member of the Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association, the Temple Terrace Bar Association and the Florida Bar. In addition to growing up in Tampa and dedicating his career to assisting Tampa Bay area residents, he also raises his family of two children in Tampa. He enjoys volunteering as a youth soccer coach and is the President of the Florida Soccer Club, Spirit of Tampa Bay.

The Law Office of John A. Tatoian Esq. is a solo firm defined by the highest of ethical standards and personal attention. John A. Tatoian Esq. concentrates primarily on sophisticated business finance & negotiations, entertainment law, consumer rights & collections. Each client deals directly with Attorney Tatoian, not paralegals or assistants. Attorney Tatoian also writes on various ethical issues and provides commentary on legal topics of current interest. Attorney Tatoian is admitted to the state bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the federal bar of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts and the federal bar of the U.S. District Court of Connecticut. Whether you need a strategic business structure designed to maximize tax benefits and protect the assets accumulated, or a litigator for business disputes, Attorney Tatoian will act on your behalf, aggressively and competently, to get you the results needed for future success. Just read what clients have said about him.

Michael Otto was born and raised in Iowa. Mr. Otto received a B.S. in Marketing from Iowa State University in 1990, where he was a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society. He went on to graduate from Drake University School of Law with a J.D. in 1994. He is a member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, the New Jersey Bar Association, and the Iowa Bar Association. He has been practicing law in New Jersey since 1996, and has been located in the same office space in Piscataway for the last ten years. In addition to his work as a general practice lawyer, Mr. Otto is also an active volunteer in his Piscataway community. He coaches a variety of sports for the Piscataway Recreation Department and routinely volunteers with the Cub Scouts in Morris County.

Scott Johnson proudly serves Roseville, CA and Sacramento, CA in Bankruptcy and Consumer Litigation.

Byron was born and raised in Long Island, New York. He is a proud descendant of two working-class Guatemalan parents who arrived in the United States in the 1980s and went through the process of becoming legal United States citizens, wanting a better life for their family. Byron witnessed first-hand how complicated the immigration process can be and how the language barrier is a massive issue for many, miscommunications causing the individual to miss dates and not understand procedures or what to do next. Byron acknowledges that he wants to recompense his parent’s struggles to achieve the American Dream by serving as a voice and a gladiator in the courtroom on behalf of his clients. The struggles that his clients experience with the continuing complicated immigration process empowered Byron to gain a broad cultural awareness, which motivated Byron to help the same working-class Latino communities with their legal matters near and dear to his heart. Byron graduated from New York’s highly-ranked college Binghamton University and received his law degree from Florida Coastal School of Law. Byron volunteered his afternoons and evenings while attending college and law school to advocate on behalf of the client to resolve immigration related-matters and defend the client against deceptive and illegal consumer practices under the supervision of an attorney. In college, Byron volunteered with the New York Attorney General’s Office in Binghamton’s Bureau of Consumer Frauds and Protection unit, which is part of the Economic Justice Division, to advocate on behalf of consumers suffering fraudulent, misleading, and deceptive, and illegal consumer practices, and to prosecute businesses and individuals engaging in those deceptive practices. In law school, Byron volunteered at his law school’s immigration clinic, sponsored by the Vera Institute of Justice under Vera’s Unaccompanied Children Program to provide legal representation to immigrant children from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, and placed in immigration proceedings. Byron’s law school clinic appointed him as the go-to person to train and manage other law students participating in the immigration clinic to prepare asylum, family-based petitions, and citizenship immigration petitions on behalf of the clinic’s clients. Byron’s dedication to helping others is a testament to his work. Byron is fluent in Spanish, and he has appeared as a legal advisor to educate the Latino community on the continuing changes to the immigration laws, as they happen quickly and can significantly affect people’s lives, on monumental television networks, such as Telemundo, Univision, and other national Latino mornings programs such as Vision Latina and TV Azteca. Byron serves as the point of contact in his Great Neck community for non-native speakers and those who need legal representation, and he opens the door to clients who continue to struggle to access it. Byron’s clients chose to work with his boutique law firm because of his extreme diligence, keen eye for detail, commitment to his client’s needs, and confidence in his approach to solutions to his client’s matters.

Hope Blocton, Esquire is a dedicated attorney serving clients throughout Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Michigan. A native of River Rouge, Michigan, she earned her undergraduate degree from Michigan State University before obtaining her Juris Doctor from Western Michigan University, where she graduated Cum Laude with a concentration in litigation. With more than seven years of legal experience, Ms. Blocton has built a reputation for providing thoughtful, effective representation to individuals and families across the communities she serves. Through her practice, Bloc One Services, LLC, she continues to deliver high-quality legal services grounded in professionalism, integrity, and a strong commitment to access and fairness. The firm has been recognized for maintaining high standards of legal achievement while ensuring that services remain accessible and reasonably priced. Ms. Blocton handles a broad range of legal matters, including bankruptcy, real estate transactions, family law and divorce, as well as civil and business litigation. Her practice reflects a deep understanding of both the legal and personal complexities her clients face, and she works diligently to provide clear, strategic guidance throughout every stage of the legal process. To schedule your free consultation today, call 240-200-0076 or fill out our contact form online.

Thomas Stagg, managing partner at Stagg Wabnik Law Group, LLP, focuses his practice on commercial, general and appellate litigation. He represents clients in federal and state courts in New York and New Jersey, as well as in Connecticut federal court, and has argued before New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, on behalf of international banking clients. Each year since 2003 Thomas has achieved an "AV" Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating, which is assigned to lawyers who have reached the height of professional excellence and who are recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity. He has also been selected annually as a New York Metro Super Lawyer since 2012. No more than five percent of the lawyers in the state are selected to Super Lawyers, which is a rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement made after a rigorous multi-phased process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates, and peer reviews. In 2012, Thomas was named by the New York State Bar Association as an Empire State Counsel® for providing more than 50 hours of free legal services to low-income individuals and in 2016 was awarded Top Legal Eagle in Litigation for Nassau and Suffolk Counties, which is assigned annually to only ten attorneys. Thomas has represented the firm's banking and credit clients in connection with Uniform Commercial Code matters and federal and state consumer credit statutes, including the Truth in Lending Act, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Electronic Fund Transfer Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. On behalf of corporate, municipal and private clients, he has successfully litigated numerous actions involving federal and state environmental laws, class action constitutional and land use issues. He has also served as counsel to a large municipality in its negotiations with New York State for a multimillion dollar grant and regularly represents clients in trust and estates litigation and administration matters. Thomas completed advanced commercial mediation training and is an active member of the Southern District of New York Mediation Panel and the New York State Commercial Division Mediation Panel in New York, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties. He has also been certified as a guardian ad litem by New York State. In addition, Thomas is registered with and has volunteered hundreds of hours to the American Bar Association's Military Pro Bono Project, a nationwide program that connects junior-enlisted servicemembers in need of pro bono legal help with volunteer attorneys throughout the nation. He is a 2015 recipient of the ABA Military Pro Bono Project Outstanding Services Award. After graduating from the State University of New York at Binghamton and St. John's University School of Law, where he was Associate Notes and Comments Editor of St. John's Journal of Legal Commentary, Thomas began his legal career with the Washington, D.C. based firm of Beveridge & Diamond. His publications include, as coauthor, "Contractual Protection: An Existing Remedy for Bondholder Distress." 4 St. John's Journal of Legal Commentary 2. He lectures on environmental lender liability and has served on the Long Island Sound Nonpoint Source Pollution Committee.