Debt Collection, False Representation, Misidentifying The Debtor, 1, 11
Plaintiff, a debt collector, sued one Yolanda Rodriguez on a debt owed by a different woman with the same name, but a different age and Social Security Number. After this was shown to plaintiff, it dismissed the suit, but this decision holds that the trial court erred in granting plaintiff’s Anti-SLAPP motion to strike Rodrigue’s FDCPA and Rosenthal Act claims. Under the FDCPA, a debt collector is strictly liable for an attempt to collect a debt that misrepresent or falsely present the “character” or “amount” of a debt owed, and suing the wrong person, even with the same name, is such a misrepresentation. (15 U.S.C. § 1692e.) There is a bona fide mistake defense, but here the debt collector didn’t and couldn’t invoke it as it had not carefully checked the defendant’s identity before suing her.