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Virginia Bell Flynn

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Virginia is a partner in the firm’s Consumer Financial Services practice and specifically within the Financial Services Litigation practice. She represents clients in federal and state court, both at the trial and appellate level in the areas of complex litigation and business disputes, health care litigation, including ERISA and out-of-network issues, and consumer litigation in over 21 states nationwide. As a result of new legal developments, she increasingly counsels clients to ensure they comply with the myriad of growing laws in the consumer law with a particular emphasis on the intersection of TCPA and HIPAA.

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Last year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleging Global Circulation, Inc. (GCI) and its owner, Kenneth Redon III, violated the FTC Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and its associated Regulation F, § 521 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and the FTC’s Trade Regulation Rule on Impersonation of Government and Businesses. On May 1, the FTC announced the parties entered into a stipulated permanent injunction and money order, prohibiting GCI and Redon from any further debt collection activities.

As technology advances, so do the tactics of scammers. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released a data spotlight on the top text scams of 2024, revealing a significant increase in financial losses despite a decrease in the number of reports. Specifically, in 2024, reported losses to text scams reached $470 million, more than five times the amount reported in 2020. Due to a lack of reporting, this number reflects only a fraction of the actual losses.

In a recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, the court granted a motion to dismiss in favor of a debt collection law firm and one of its attorneys who were not licensed as debt collectors in Indiana. The court found that a failure to be licensed did not provide for a private right of action under state law and did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

Last month, we discussed the motion filed by the National Consumers League and four small business owners to intervene in the case of Insurance Marketing Coalition Limited. v. FCC. This motion aimed to challenge the Eleventh Circuit panel’s decision that vacated the FCC’s 2023 Order, known as the One-to-One Rule. Last week, the District of Columbia, along with 27 states, filed an amicus brief in support of a petition for rehearing en banc.

This article was republished on insideARM on March 18, 2025.

In a recent decision, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland granted summary judgment in favor of a debt collector who responded to a debtor’s letter disputing and refusing to pay a debt by providing validation of the debt. The court found that the debt collector’s actions did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

On February 19, the National Consumers League (NCL) and four small business owners filed a motion to intervene in support of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the United States in the case of Insurance Marketing Coalition Ltd. v. FCC. This motion seeks to challenge the panel’s January 24, 2025 decision that vacated the FCC’s 2023 Order, known as the One-to-One Rule.

In Kirkman v. Blitt and Gaines, P.C., the plaintiff sued the defendant in the Northern District of Illinois alleging violations of the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) for sending her a letter by regular mail instead of email. The court found that the plaintiff lacked standing and granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss.

On February 4, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed a $4,492,500 fine against Telnyx LLC for allegedly allowing illegal robocalls on its network. The FCC’s Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL) serves as a formal notification of the apparent violations and the proposed monetary penalty. It is not a final Commission action. Telnyx will have the opportunity to respond to the allegations, submit evidence, and present legal arguments before the FCC makes a final determination.

In Insurance Marketing Coalition Ltd. v. FCC, ‎— F.4th —-, 2025 WL 289152 (11th Cir. Jan. 24, 2025)‎, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit came to the rescue of the lead generation industry, striking down new regulations that were set to go into effect on January 27. Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), ‎47 U.S.C. § 227‎, sellers and telemarketers are prohibited from making certain telemarketing calls using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) or artificial or prerecorded voice messages without “prior express consent.” On December 18, 2023, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued an order adopting rules aimed at closing what it termed the “lead generator loophole” (2023 order). The FCC objected to lead generators using a single webform to obtain prior express written consent for a list of marketing partners. The FCC also objected to webforms that obtained broad consent for marketing calls about a wide-range of products and services. ‎ The 2023 order adopted a new definition of “prior express written consent” that would have prohibited consumers from giving consent to receive marketing calls from more than one company at a time or about products and services that were not “logically and topically associated with” those promoted on the website. The Eleventh Circuit held that the FCC exceeded its authority under the TCPA because the consent restrictions conflicted with the ordinary meaning of “prior express consent.” This decision is consistent with the recent shift in the willingness of federal courts to review administrative decisions after the Supreme Court overruled Chevron deference in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 144 S. Ct. 2244 (2024)‎.