A widow is suing her mortgage servicer, claiming harassing debt collection calls exaggerated her husband’s heart problems, added to his level of stress and eventually led to his death. A recent CNN story (view below) details the circumstances that led to the suit. Dianne McLeod’s husband had a heart condition and was airlifted to a hospital after having a heart attack. He went on disability. The McLeods fell three months behind on payments. The harassing phone calls added up, sometimes 10 times a day, until Stanley McLeod’s death in 2005. Now Dianne wants the servicer, Green Tree Servicing LLC, to take responsibility for her husband’s wrongful death. But the servicer denies any connection between its collection practices and Stanley’s death. “The collection activity did not lead to his death,” Brian Corey, senior vice president/genereal counsel of Green Tree, told CNN. “The claim is meritless. We deny that the content, the number, or the timing of the calls, had anything to do with him dying in 2005.” But CNN uncovered other cases of threatening, mafia-style calls like, “When I see you, I’m going to f**** you up. I want my money and I want it now.” Write to Diana Golobay.

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