Dell Computer class action suit for refusing credit to individuals of ethnic backgrounds.

Thomas K. Equels, Managing Shareholder of the Holtzman Equels law firm, and attorney Benjamin R. Alvarez have filed a class action on behalf of Miami resident Juan C. Arteaga against Dell Financial Services, LP. in United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Case #06-21123). The complaint alleges the organization, a joint venture between Dell Inc., the world’s leading online computer systems company, and CIT., violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act by refusing to provide credit to individuals based on their ethnic backgrounds.

“The exact number of people affected by these discriminatory practices are unknown,” said Equels, “but we believe there are thousands of victims who simply don’t know that they were denied credit based solely on their race or ethnicity.”

Arteaga, a Hispanic businessman and university professor, said he placed an order and submitted a credit application to lease new computer equipment for his new company (Global Institute of Higher Extension Studies, L.L.C.) in November 2005.

The class action stated, “After Mr. Arteaga was approved, pursuant to Dell Financial’s instructions, Mr. Arteaga wire transferred $4,063.54 to Dell Financial’s Bank of America account as a down payment for the leased computer equipment. Subsequently, though still during the month of February 10, 2005, Ms. Lynn Dickenson of Dell Financial confirmed that she had received the application, that the down payment was applied and that the order was being processed and would be ready soon.

According to the complaint, “On February 11, 2005, the day after Dell had confirmed Global’s credit application and had applied Mr. Arteaga’s down payment, Ms. Dickenson emailed Mrs. Castano at Global and informed her that the credit application was being denied because ‘our verification department seems to think that Juan Carlos [Arteaga] can’t speak English and a non-English speaker can’t personally guarantee an account for fear they may not understand the terms and conditions of the lease.'”

“Mr. Arteaga made several attempts to obtain further explanation from Dell Financial for its decision to deny him and Global credit but his requests went unanswered,” said Equels. “Even though Mr. Arteaga had exemplary credit, Dell would not extend him credit because of his accent and ethnic background. Dell’s refusal to provide him credit is a clear and direct violation of the Act.” Equels said class action seeks punitive damages that the court will determined based on the number of plaintiffs, the extent of their individual claims and the degree of Dell’s violations of the Act.