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Accounts Stated

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Court of Appeal (Cal.) Says Credit Card Issue Properly Sued for Account Stated; Billing Statements Met Exception to Hearsay Rule

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Bank of Am., N.A. v. Byrd, No. G056792, 2019 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 7176 (Oct. 28, 2019), Bank of America, N.A. (the Bank) sued Pamela K. Byrd to recover over $32,000 in credit card debt. The trial court found the Bank's last credit card statement to Byrd constituted a final rendering of the account, and Byrd impliedly agreed to pay… Read More

District Court (Cal.) Says Debt Collection Law Firm Did Not Sue on Stale Debt, Requires FDCPA Plaintiff to Show that Allegedly Erroneous Proof of Service in State Court Debt Collection Suit Was Filed in “Bad Faith”

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Rodrigo v. Barclays Bank Delaware, 2017 WL 1155373, at *4–5 (S.D.Cal., 2017), Judge Houston dismissed an FDCPA case grounded in allegedly suing on a stale debt and filing a false proof of service in the underlying action. Construing all inferences in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, the Court finds that the state law collection action brought against Rodrigo… Read More

Court of Appeal (Cal.) Says “Open Book Account” Sounds in Contract, But Applies Out-of-State SofL Per Choice of Law Clause in the Subscriber Agreement

by Scott J. Hyman |

 In Professional Collection Consultants v. Lauron, 2017 WL 634714 (Cal.App. 6 Dist., 2017), the Court of Appeal found that an Open Book Account claim sounded in contract, and applied the contract's choice of law clause. This appeal arises out of a credit card debt collection action involving two credit cards. Appellant Professional Collection Consultants (PCC), as an assignee of the original… Read More

District Court (Cal.) Says No C&D Violation under FDCPA; Possible FDCPA Violation for Praying for 10% Interest Rate in Debt Collection Complaint where Credit Card APR was 8.9%

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Hadsell v. CACH, LLC, 2014 WL 497433 (S.D.Cal. 2014), Judge Lorenz, within the context of a motion for reconsideration, granted partial summary judgment and denied partial summary judgment to an FDCPA defendant alleged to have violated a Cease-and-Desist letter from the debtor and to have violated the FDCPA by praying for 10% interest in the Prayer for Relief in… Read More

District Court (Cal.) Uses Plaintiffs’ FDCPA Trick Against Them; Holds That You Can’t Say “Plaintiff Takes No Position on Validity of the Debt” Yet Claim Debt Collector’s Suit on Debt Was False

by Scott J. Hyman |

In a trio of cases, Benedict v. CACH, LLC, 2012 WL 5382255 (S.D. Cal. 2012), Odish v. CACH, LLC, 2012 WL 5382260 (S.D. Cal. 2012), and Jackson v. CACH, LLC, 2012 WL 5382257 (S.D.Cal. 2012), Judge Battaglia held that a frequently-used Plaintiff’s trick stating that “Plaintiff takes no position on the validity of the debt” in support of Plaintiff’s FDCPA… Read More