SCRA Lawyers and Legal Help

1. Your installation legal assistance office (JAG)

Free attorneys on base for service members and eligible family members. They can advise you on your SCRA rights, review a contract or lease before you sign, prepare legal correspondence and documents, negotiate with a collector or lender on your behalf, and tell you whether what happened to you is actually a violation.

The limits: Legal assistance attorneys generally cannot represent you in a civilian court. When a case needs more than advice and letters, they refer it out, including to the ABA Military Pro Bono Project below. That referral pipeline is exactly why you start here.

How to use it: Find your nearest office with the Armed Forces Legal Assistance locator, or call Military OneSource at 800-342-9647. The locator covers active-duty legal offices in the continental United States.

Armed Forces Legal Assistance locator (legalassistance.law.af.mil)

2. The Department of Justice (servicemembers.gov)

The DOJ Civil Rights Division enforces the SCRA and hosts its servicemember resources at servicemembers.gov. A complaint there is reviewed by the division; the strongest ones, especially patterns of violations, can become federal investigations and lawsuits the government files in the name of the United States, at no cost to you.

The limits: The DOJ says plainly that it cannot investigate every SCRA complaint, and it cannot act as your personal attorney. If you are eligible for military legal assistance, the DOJ asks you to start with your legal assistance office. A DOJ complaint builds the public enforcement record; it is not a substitute for your own claim.

How to use it: Read the SCRA complaint instructions at servicemembers.gov, then submit through the Civil Rights Division reporting portal. Our DOJ case ledger tracks where those investigations have ended up.

DOJ Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative (servicemembers.gov) · Civil Rights Division complaint portal (civilrights.justice.gov)

3. The ABA Military Pro Bono Project

Connects service members to volunteer civilian attorneys for free representation in civil cases, including consumer law, the category most SCRA disputes fall into.

The limits: You cannot apply directly: referrals come only from a military legal assistance (JAG) attorney. The project currently accepts service members at paygrade E-6 and below, with E-7 and above considered case by case in extraordinary need. The case must be a civil matter that needs more help than the legal assistance office can give, and a referral is not a guarantee of placement.

How to use it: Ask your legal assistance attorney to refer your case. This is the standard path to a free civilian lawyer when JAG advice alone is not enough.

ABA Military Pro Bono Project (militaryprobono.org)

4. Your state attorney general and the CFPB

State attorneys general enforce state consumer protection laws, and most states stack their own servicemember protections on top of the federal SCRA. The CFPB takes complaints against banks, lenders, and servicers; the company must respond on the record.

The limits: Like the DOJ, these offices act for the public, not as your personal counsel. A complaint creates pressure and a paper trail; it does not directly award you damages.

How to use it: Find your attorney general through the National Association of Attorneys General directory, and file lender complaints at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. See your state page in our state directory for what state law adds.

Find your state attorney general (naag.org)

Hurley v. Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas

W.D. Mich., No. 1:08-cv-361; Sixth Circuit (2010) · Filed 2007, litigated into 2013

Foreclosure Damages Waiver of arbitration

Michigan Army National Guard Sgt. James Hurley’s home was foreclosed and sold while he was deployed. The Sixth Circuit held the foreclosure firm had waived arbitration and let the suit proceed, and the district court later granted summary judgment for the Hurleys against the mortgage holder, the servicer, and the foreclosure law firm. In sworn testimony, counsel credited the case with pushing Congress to write the express private right of action (now 50 U.S.C. § 4042) into the 2010 amendments. The case ran on the front page of the New York Times.

Documented plaintiff’s counsel

• John S. Odom, Jr., Jones & Odom, L.L.P., Shreveport, Louisiana
• Matthew R. Cooper, then Schuitmaker, Cooper, Schuitmaker, Cypher & Knotek, P.C.; now Cooper Law, Paw Paw / Decatur, Michigan
• Frank B. Melchiore, Law FM, St. Petersburg, Florida

Odom identified himself as lead counsel for Sgt. Hurley in sworn testimony to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs; Cooper and Melchiore appear in the Sixth Circuit opinion’s counsel listing. Odom, a retired Air Force colonel recalled to active duty in 2010 to author a report to Congress on the SCRA, also wrote the ABA’s judges’ benchbook on the act.

Sixth Circuit opinion, Hurley v. Deutsche Bank (counsel listing, holding) · House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs hearing record, 2011 (Odom statement)

Gordon v. Pete’s Auto Service of Denbigh, Inc.

E.D. Va.; Fourth Circuit, 637 F.3d 454 (decided Feb. 14, 2011) · Filed 2008, decided on appeal 2011

Vehicle seizure Storage-lien sale Private right of action

A Navy sailor’s SUV was towed and sold while he was deployed. The district court dismissed his damages suit, ruling the SCRA’s lien protection carried no implied right to sue. Congress amended the SCRA while the appeal was pending, and the Fourth Circuit applied the new express private right of action and revived the case, with the Justice Department arguing as amicus on the sailor’s side. It is the decision that confirmed the 2010 damages remedy reaches back to conduct like this.

Documented plaintiff’s counsel

• Rebecca S. Colaw, Rebecca S. Colaw, P.C., Suffolk, Virginia

Colaw argued the appeal for Gordon per the Fourth Circuit opinion’s counsel listing.

Fourth Circuit opinion, Gordon v. Pete’s Auto (hosted by DOJ)

Rowles v. Chase Home Finance, LLC

D.S.C. (class action) · Filed 2010, settled 2011

6% rate cap Mortgages Class action

Marine Capt. Jonathon Rowles alleged Chase overcharged his mortgage in violation of the 6% cap, then hounded his family for payments it was not owed. The suit, and the congressional hearing it triggered, ended with Chase admitting errors on thousands of military mortgages and a class settlement reported at $27 million in benefits. Rowles and his counsel testified before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

Documented plaintiff’s counsel

• Richard A. Harpootlian and Graham L. Newman, Richard A. Harpootlian, P.A., Columbia, South Carolina
• William B. Harvey III, Harvey & Battey, P.A., Beaufort, South Carolina

Harpootlian and Harvey appeared as witnesses at the 2011 House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs hearing on the case; the settlement and counsel were covered by the Washington Post.

Washington Post: Chase pays $27 million to settle suit over military mortgages (Apr. 2011) · House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs hearing record, 2011 (witness list, testimony)

Espin v. Citibank, N.A.

E.D.N.C., No. 5:22-cv-00383; Fourth Circuit, No. 23-2083 (decided Jan. 27, 2025) · Filed 2022, ongoing

6% rate cap Credit cards Class action Arbitration

Four service members alleged Citibank granted reduced or 0% rates during active duty, then hit the same protected balances with standard civilian rates and fees once service ended, a claimed “veteran penalty.” The district court let the class action proceed, but the Fourth Circuit reversed and ordered the SCRA claims into individual arbitration under the card agreements, holding only the Military Lending Act claims could stay in court. The case is the current test of how far arbitration clauses cut into SCRA class actions.

Documented plaintiff’s counsel

• Leah M. Nicholls (argued) and Hannah Kieschnick, Public Justice, Washington, D.C. / Oakland, California
• Knoll D. Lowney and Claire E. Tonry, Smith & Lowney, P.L.L.C., Seattle, Washington

All four attorneys appear in the published Fourth Circuit opinion’s counsel listing for the servicemember plaintiffs.

Fourth Circuit published opinion, Espin v. Citibank (ca4.uscourts.gov)