Lawyers have loaded the Hammond federal court docket with lawsuits claiming debt collectors are working outside the law.

Sometimes, collectors aren't even bothering the right people, said Valparaiso consumer rights lawyer Michael McIlree.

"This poor guy has his dad get called, his girlfriend's parents, and then he gets called regarding an alleged student loan debt," McIlree said. "This guy says, 'Hey, I never went to college.'"

In the last 30 days, six lawsuits have been filed in Hammond federal court regarding alleged violations to the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. McIlree filed three of the suits. At least 20 such suits were filed in Hammond in 2008, accounting for 5 percent of all civil suits filed last year. At least 18 debt suits were filed in Hammond in 2007.

The ballooning debt means more potential for debt collection lawsuits.

McIlree said collectors are growing more tenacious and making more phone calls that violate federal laws.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is designed to protect debtors from abusive, intimidating or misleading contacts from debt collectors. Debt collectors are banned from calling early in the morning or late at night. Once a debtor sends a collector a letter asking the collector to quit calling, the collector can only call again to inform the debtor of a lawsuit.

Good debt collectors don't make the calls that violate the law because those types of calls don't result in debt payments, said John Nemo, spokesman for the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals.

"It's bad business. It doesn't work," Nemo said. "The ones that have the most success are the ones that treat you the way you would want anyone to treat you."

Collectors definitely can't try to collect debts from people who don't owe money, but McIlree claims that happened to one of his clients.

McIlree filed a suit on behalf of Timothy J. Howard, of Porter County, who claims Continental Service Group, of New York, badgered him to repay student loans for a Ball State University education he never received.

A Continental collector called Howard, his girlfriend and his father, and the collector continued to contact Howard after he told the collector of the alleged mistake, the suit claims. Howard's credit has been damaged, the lawsuit claims.

A spokeswoman for Continental gave no comment on the lawsuit Friday.