In Quigley v. Verizon Wireless, 2012 WL 1945784 (N.D.Cal. 2012), Judge Chen allowed an FDCPA plaintiff leave to amend to allege a violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1692c where the debtor claimed that he could allege that the debt collector knew where he was before the debt collector started to call third parties.
Section 1692c covers communications in con-nection with debt collection generally. Subsection (b) covers communications with third parties specifically. The statute provides as follows: Except as provided in section 804 [15 U.S.C. § 1692b], without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector, or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, or as reasonably necessary to effectuate a postjudg-ment judicial remedy, a debt collector may not communicate, in connection with the collection of any debt, with any person other than the consumer, his attorney, a consumer reporting agency if other-wise permitted by law, the creditor, the attorney of the creditor, or the attorney of the debt collector. 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(b) (emphasis added). In the instant case, the critical language is the language italicized above. Essentially, § 1692c(b) prohibits communications with third parties except as provided in § 1692b—and, as noted above, § 1692b(3) allows for communication with a third party to obtain location information. The § 1692c(b) claim, therefore, rises or falls with the § 1692b(3) claim. Accordingly, the Court dismisses the § 1692c(b) claim but, as above, gives Mr. Quigley leave to amend to make clear that, at all times when ER was communicating with his son, it knew of his place of abode, his telephone number at such place, and his place of employment.
This is consistent with the FTC’s Official Staff Commentary and Staff Opinion Letters that “Confirming or correcting location information” means that a debt collector cannot call third parties under the pretense of gaining information already in the debt collector’s possession. FTC Staff Commentary, §805(b) Comment 2; Atteberry, FTC Staff Opinion Letter (Feb 22, 1990); Kwait, FTC Staff Opinion Letter (Jan. 24, 1989).