In Brooks v. Niagara Credit Solutions, Inc., 2015 WL 6828142, at *1 (D.Kan. 2015), Judge Lungstrom declined to follow the Douglass glassine window case. As will be explained, the court declines to follow the Douglass opinion (which, of course, it is not bound by) and concludes that defendant's use of plaintiff's account number through the envelope's glassine window does not violate the… Read More
In Park v. ARS National Services, Inc., 2015 WL 6579686, at *5 (D.N.J., 2015), Judge Wigenton followed the Third Circuit's Douglass decision. Defendant's argument that the FDCPA does not apply to the barcode at issue because other laws and regulations prohibit third parties from scanning it is unpersuasive. Neither the text nor the underlying purposes of the FDCPA provide any basis… Read More
In Janson v. Katharyn B. Davis, LLC, 2015 WL 7253244, at *2 (C.A.8 (Mo.),2015), a renter lost a state court collection action, and then sued in federal court claiming that an affidavit filed filed in the state court action was false; namely, because it asserted that he owed rent. How this side-stepped the Rooker-Feldman doctrine escapes me, but the 8th… Read More
In Ereikat v. Michael & Associates, PC, 2015 WL 4463653 (N.D.Cal., 2015), Judge Corley granted summary judgment to a debt collection law firm whose state court collection action named an "aka" of the debtor listed in the debtor's TU consumer report that also matched the debtor's husband's name. But Defendant is nonetheless entitled to summary judgment because the Court concludes that… Read More
In Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Frederick J. Hanna & Associates, P.C., Judge Totenberg rejected a debt collection law firm's constitutional challenge under the Noerr-Pennington doctrine and the equal protection doctrine to the CFPB's authority to bring claims against it. As to the latter, the District Court found no equal protection violation for placing debt collection law firm's clients on different… Read More
In Jensen v. Pressler & Pressler, 2015 WL 3953754, at *1 (C.A.3 (N.J.),2015), the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that the FDCPA's prohibition against false statements requires materiality, and that such standard is baked into the "least sophisticated consumer" rule. The facts were as follows. Paula Jensen defaulted on a Bank of America credit card, and her debt… Read More
In Finley v. Dynamic Recovery Solutions LLC, 2015 WL 3750140 (N.D. Cal. 2015), Judge Henderson denied Defendant’s summary judgment motion as to Plaintiff’s claim that the Defendant violated the FDCPA for collecting on out-of-statute debt. The Ninth Circuit has not yet determined whether a threat of litigation is required for such a debt collection letter to be actionable. Two cases… Read More
In Provo v. Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego, 2015 WL 3648845, at *2-3 (S.D.Cal.,2015), Judge Miller granted in part and denied in part a debt collector's motion to dismiss an FDCPA plaintiff's claim based on collection of a medical debt. Judge Miller found that the letter did not unlawfully seek to collect prejudgment interest without a judgment. Plaintiffs contend that a debt… Read More
In Sears v. Baretta Fin., No. 7:14CV00036, 2015 WL 3507694, at *3 (W.D. Va. June 3, 2015), Judge Conrad found that a debt collection agency's letter mentioning a "caption" and "case number" when no lawsuit had been filed violated the FDCPA. According to the complaint, Baretta Financial “regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or… Read More
In Altman v. J.C. Christensen & Associates, Inc., 2015 WL 2242398--- F.3d ---- (2d Cir. 2015), the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found no FDCPA violation for failing to advise a debtor that a settlement resulting in debt relief to the debtor would result in tax consequences. Altman argues that, by specifying the savings that he would enjoy… Read More
In Diaz v. Kubler Corp, 2015 WL 2214634, -- F.3d. – (9th Cir. 2015), the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that a debt collector’s dunning letter did not violate the FDCPA/Rosenthal Act by seeking collection of statutory pre-judgment interest in addition to the liquidated debt. It is quite plain that Kubler would have been entitled to prejudgment… Read More
In Alborzian v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., --- Cal.Rptr.3d ----, 2015 WL 1114426 (Cal.App. 2 Dist. 2015), the California Court of Appeal addressed whether a sold-out junior mortgage holder violated the FDCPA/Rosenthal Act by collecting on the debt post-foreclosure by the senior. A lender who lends money used to purchase a parcel of property and who holds a junior lien on that… Read More
In Gold v. Midland Credit Management, Inc., --- F.Supp.3d ----, 2015 WL 1037700 (N.D.Cal. 2015), Judge Freeman granted summary judgment to a credit buyer and it’s debt collection agency, and struck Plaintiff’s expert on credit reporting to the extent he attempted to opine on debt collection issues. Judge Freeman found expert Evan Hendricks unqualified to testify about debt collection issues.… Read More
In Kielty v. Midland Credit Management, Inc., 2015 WL 400584 (S.D.Cal. 2015), Judge Bashant held that a debt collector stating that payment could help repair the debtor’s credit did not trigger the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Unlike FreeScore, Midland does not offer any service for the purpose of providing assistance or advice to improve consumers' credit record in return for… Read More
In Buchanan v. Northland Group, Inc.,--- F.3d ----, 2015 WL 149528 (6th Cir. 2015), the Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit found a debt-buyer's collection deceptive because it did not disclose that the statute of limitations on the debt had run and, if the debtor made a partial payment, it would commence a new statute of limitations. The “settlement offer”… Read More
In Grandidier v. Quantum3 Group, LLC, 2014 WL 6908482 (S.D.Ind. 2014), Judge Young found that the FDCPA prohibits filing proofs of claim in bankruptcy court on debts that would be barred by the statute of limitations. The Eleventh Circuit recently decided a case nearly identical to the one before the court. See Crawford v. LVNV Funding, LLC, 758 F.3d 1254 (11th Cir.2014).… Read More
In McIvor v. Credit Control Services, Inc., --- F.3d ----, 2014 WL 6805380 (8th Cir. 2014), the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that a debt collector’s reinvestigation of a credit dispute and communications with the CRAs was not a “communication” in connection with the collection of a debt under FCRA because, instead, it was the debt collector’s… Read More
In Aitken v. Debt Management Partners, LLC, 2014 WL 5469876 (C.D.Ill. 2014), Magistrate Judge Hawley discussed the ‘sliding-scale’ applicable to determining recovery of emotional distress, and found that Plaintiff had created a triable issue of fact to defeat summary judgment. There was much else to this opinion on the parties’ motions and positions about various purported violations of the FDCPA, but… Read More
In Stratton v. Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, --- F.3d ----, 2014 WL 5394517 (6th Cir. 2014), the Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit found that attempts to collect pre-judgment interest before a judgment was obtained violated the FDCPA due to the intersection of the state’s usury statute with its pre-judgment interest statute. This case involves the intersection of the… Read More
In Cokeley v. Midland Credit Management, Inc., 2014 WL 5341919 (D.Kan. 2014), Judge Lungstrum granted summary judgment to a debt collector on an FDCPA claim grounded in harassment. The Court first concludes that defendant cannot have violated Section 1692d(5) because it did not call plaintiff “repeatedly or continuously.” Defendant called plaintiff for the first time on September 7, 2013, and… Read More
