MEMPHIS, Tenn. — More people are coming forward with complaints about the Memphis Bonding Company.
Earlier this week, we told you about the first lawsuit filed against them.
Victims say the company secretly put liens on their houses and even forged signatures.
Now, there’s a second lawsuit filed with more expected.
When plaintiff Robert Bailey’s brother got arrested a few years ago, he wasn’t rushing to bail him out.
“I love my brother, I do what I can but in certain situations, things you get into, you got to get out of yourself.”
However, their sister wanted to post bond and needed another signature to do so.
Bailey said he’d sign but wasn’t paying anything.
He went into Memphis Bonding Company and agreed to put his house as collateral only if his brother didn’t show up to court.
“If he did not show up, then I would have a problem,” said Bailey. “That’s why I said, ‘I’m guaranteeing that he is coming to court. I’m not financially responsible because I don’t have any money.’”
He says the employee agreed. Bailey says he signed two papers at the front desk and was out the door within five minutes.
His brother showed up to court, bonded out and started a payment plan.
“My part of the bargain was done.”
So he thought until he received a letter in the mail from attorney Matthew Jones.
Jones had been looking into the Memphis Bonding Company after a woman said they took a lien out on her house without her knowing.
It turned out several people had similar stories.
“I was originally shocked when I found out these business practices after talking with several people really in January and early part of this month,” said Jones with Memphis Area Legal Services.
Jones reached out to people named on deeds of trust he found through the company. Bailey was one of them.
After speaking to Jones, Bailey went to the bonding company asking for answers, but they wouldn’t turn over any papers.
They told him he had a lien on his house until he paid over five grand.
“It’s very upsetting,” said Bailey.
He says he’s never seen the deed of trust before with his name on it and knows for a fact he wasn’t there when it was notarized.
There would’ve been another person present who would’ve taken his ID.
“Across the board, no one remembers a notary,” said Jones of the people who have reached out to him with complaints.
On top of that, Jones said some people believe their signatures were forged.
WREG went to the bonding company on Friday and after waking the employee up from a slumber, we were told no one was there who could talk to us about these allegations.
If you have had any similar problems with this company, you should call Memphis Area Legal Services at 901-523-8822.
