Standing Up to Bullies

Mary Catherine Fons has always felt a pull to help David take on Goliath.

Before she had any inkling of becoming a lawyer, Fons volunteered in the district attorney’s office helping women abused by their partners navigate the legal system. It was a transformative experience.

“That’s where I got the idea that lawyers can help people in ways that other people can’t,” Fons says. “I could really help what’s going on in the world in a small way.”

That idea would become a driving force in her life. For more than 31 years at Fons Law Office in Stoughton, the Cudahy native has used her expertise in consumer protection rules to fight for people who have been cheated, lied to, scammed and harassed. 

It’s often a lonely battle against high-powered companies, but it’s one Fons feels a calling to pursue.

“Standing up to bullies is a lot of what I do for my clients,” Fons says. “Anyone who has been cheated should have a voice. Unless lawyers do what I do, they’re not going to have a voice.

“I have that sense of justice and not letting bullies win.”

Fons grew up a short walk from Lake Michigan. The second of six children and two stepchildren, she attended Catholic schools prior to enrolling at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She wasn’t sure what to study, changing her mind often before settling on a double major in women’s studies and psychology. 

After her victim advocacy work at the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, Fons pursued a law degree at Marquette University and, following graduation, worked with the United Auto Workers Legal Services Plan, where she learned consumer law. 

The workers negotiated this benefit to assist with personal legal needs, such as wills, divorces, bankruptcies, and—crucially for Fons—consumer protection issues. She was based in Kenosha, home of a large auto plant owned first by American Motors Corporation and then Chrysler. Workers there consistently complained about a local financial institution misleading them, being told one thing about how a loan would work, then encountering a much different situation after they signed.

“It put people in financial danger,” Fons says. “Now they have a loan they wouldn’t have taken out if they had known the truth.”

After a series of those cases, Fons became well acquainted with state and federal consumer laws, learning the predatory practices of some companies and the available remedies. Ten years into her career at UAW offices in Kenosha and Janesville, she made the leap into her own consumer law practice in January 1994. At the time, the area of law was not well known—so much so that when she announced her new office, she had to painstakingly explain the type of work she intended to do. 

Fons’ casework now includes debt collection abuse, auto repossessions, and unfair and deceptive sales practices in many industries. While she co-counsels cases at times, for more than 31 years she has been the only lawyer at Fons Law Office. She takes pride in fighting against deep-pocketed defendants.

“The other side often hires the biggest firms in the state, because they can. Spending time needlessly, trying to beat down my clients, trying to beat me down—that happens a lot,” Fons says. “I’m just one person, but I’ve done it a lot. I know many defense tactics; I’ve seen it before. If they violated the law, eventually they’re going to want to resolve the case.”

Ken and Janet Savage saw this firsthand after they sued a national bank that refused to remove fraudulent international airline charges from their credit card. Fons represented them during a year-and-a-half battle. 

Ken especially remembers a combative conference call with the financial institution’s attorneys, during which the Savages resisted accepting an unfair settlement. 

“Mary held her ground with these guys and just did a terrific job,” Savage recalls. “We were so pleased to have Mary represent us. We loved the way she stood up to those stuffed shirts from those big law firms.”

Thanks to her help, they arrived at a more adequate settlement number, he says.

“She was a pleasure to work with,” Savage continues. “This was a business relationship we had with Mary, but it felt almost like a friendship.”

For as long as people have conducted business, there have been fraudsters, from snake oil salesmen selling fake cures to door-to-door vacuum salespeople notorious for aggressive tactics and exhausting pitches. During her career, Fons has seen consumer fraud take many forms. 

Around the time she started practicing, timeshares came to Wisconsin—particularly the Wisconsin Dells area—bringing with them a variety of unfair and illegal sales practices. Clients told Fons they were kept in presentations for hours, becoming so exhausted they agreed to a deal just to be done with it.

One particularly galling example, Fons recalls, was a timeshare representative who claimed he suffered from the same rare disease as her client. “They’re supposed to tell the truth, and by making up stuff, they’re not,” Fons says. “They use those kinds of techniques often, and it’s disgusting to me.”

As her career progressed, the internet became a gigantic playground for scammers to roam, duping unsuspecting people through ads, emails and other solicitations. Fons has sued payday lenders implementing interest rates as high as 1200% and debt collectors harassing clients with brutal insults. 

When consumers are duped, she adds, they often feel ashamed or embarrassed and don’t want to ask for help. “If you make a bad decision, that’s one thing. But if it’s because you were lied to or pressured, that’s not your fault,” she says.

Sometimes, a client comes to Fons wanting to address a problem in a specific way, but Fons is able to find a different route. For example, after one client fell behind on car payments, the lender repossessed her vehicle and withdrew money from her bank account. That withdrawal outraged the client, because she considered it her business account and felt that should not be allowed. While Fons determined she wouldn’t succeed pursuing the business account angle, she found that the woman’s vehicle was illegally repossessed. In the end, Fons got the woman’s car back as well as all the money she paid on the loan, and it required no further payments.

“Becoming knowledgeable in consumer law, people may call me about one thing, but as we talk through the situation, there may be other laws that were violated,” Fons says.

The key is spending a lot of time with clients and truly understanding what happened to them, she says. Money her clients are cheated out of isn’t simply money owed—it often has wrought consequences in their financial and personal lives. Fons wants to give them a voice.

She also has a philosophy: Never write off someone’s case just because they signed a document.

“In our society, it’s often, ‘Well, you signed it.’ My goal is to teach people not to do that,” Fons says. “There’s a lot of relief that consumer protection laws offer for lying, for deceiving, for forging documents. There’s help for people who have been cheated.”

The great equalizer in consumer law is that, if Fons is successful, the defendant must pay her client’s legal fees. The catch is that’s the only way Fons gets paid.

“I’m putting myself on the line every time,” she says. “I examine each case to make sure it’s a good one—I don’t want to waste their time or mine. If I don’t succeed, any costs that come out of my pocket are mine to eat.”

“There’s such inequity and injustice in the financial market,” says Fons, who believes she was the first attorney to strictly practice consumer law in Wisconsin. “We’re thinking of new ways every day to cheat people and take advantage of them. We need a lot more consumer protection lawyers.”

Heidi N. Miller, of HNM Law in Wauwatosa, another one-person consumer law practice, has watched Fons overcome many roadblocks to fight fraud and misrepresentation. Miller has turned to Fons often throughout her 12 years as an attorney. 

“She is generous in giving her time to mentor others. When I’ve asked her for input on cases, her feedback shows she has thought through the entire case, and she gives me real answers instead of providing a fast, surface response,” Miller says. “I once called her on Christmas Eve regarding drama in one of my cases, and she took my call, even though she was with a family member.”

Fons’ mentorship helps fight other types of injustice, too. “As a female attorney,” Miller adds, “I recognize that the battle for equality has not been easy, and I appreciate the years and effort Mary has put into fighting for gender equality in the legal community.” 

For the past 17 years, Zeshan Usman has helped victims of consumer fraud through Usman Law in Madison. He met Fons through a national consumer attorney mentorship program, and over many discussions at the Pizza Hut buffet in Stoughton, has learned a lot about the law and life.

“She always warmly welcomed my questions, no matter how simple or basic I worried they were,” Usman says. “I have never met a better client advocate than Mary Fons.”

When she’s not battling corporations, you might find Fons spending time with her children and grandchildren—biking, seeing live theater, or taking in a Bruce Springsteen concert. Since 1981, she has traveled the world to see “The Boss”—across the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand—a total of 47 times.

Given Springsteen’s reputation as a hero for the working class, it’s not surprising Fons would be a fan. 

“The reason I connect with him is he speaks to everyday-life stories,” Fons says. “And his songs address hurts, healing and joy.”

Many of her clients are elderly, low income, non-native English speakers, people of color, or those in other vulnerable demographic categories. Ken and Janet Savage speculate their case dragged on in part because of their older age—perhaps the bank thought they could take advantage of them, or that they would eventually back down. Such tactics give Fons all the more determination to make things right. 

“When I talk to people, I say I am here to prosecute social crimes. These aren’t criminal laws, but you are committing a social crime by cheating people, lying to people. That’s what I look at for my job. I’m trying to get justice—economic justice—in the marketplace,” she says.

“I have an inner voice and an inner wish to get justice for people who have been ripped off.”