Words matter, especially in debt collection communications. As a collector recently learned the hard way, debt collectors should attempt to use words precisely in order to comply with the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act.
In Hackler v. Tolteca Enterprises, Inc., plaintiff Sadie Hackler rented a home in Texas. After she moved out, her landlord charged
On January 3, 2020, in Buchholz v. Meyer Njus Tanick, P.A., No. 18-2261 (6th Cir. 2020), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s decision dismissing a complaint alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act on the grounds that the plaintiff lacked Article III standing. The Court found the
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York recently dismissed a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act suit with prejudice brought over disclosure language in a debt collection letter. The Court found that while certain disclosure language is included in the FDCPA, failure to include it does not necessarily give rise to
On December 19, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced his intent to advance a legislative proposal to license debt collectors operating within the state. Announced as the 8th proposal of the 2020 State of the State agenda, it “would give the state new tools to regulate debt collectors – stopping unscrupulous practices and strengthening our
On December 17, a magistrate judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California granted judgment in favor of defendant debt collector Enhanced Recovery Company (“ERC”), thereby dismissing plaintiff Rene Ortiz’s pro se claims for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The ruling was
Troutman Sanders recently secured dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a consumer in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleging the defendants violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by improperly adding statutory interest to a charged-off credit card debt in contravention of Georgia’s prejudgment interest statute. The District Court’s
On December 17, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved a settlement between Starion Energy Inc. and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in which Starion agreed to pay up to $10 million to resolve claims that it engaged in deceptive business practices and violated state telemarketing laws.
Starion is a retail provider
In Horia v. Nationwide Credit & Collection, Inc., the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a district court’s decision dismissing the plaintiff’s second FDCPA lawsuit.
Consumer plaintiff Henry Horia received separate correspondence from Nationwide Credit regarding two debts owed to two different creditors, both of which had been assigned to Nationwide Credit in
Creditors and debt collectors are often held to high standards when it comes to consumer protection laws. On December 17, however, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a Memorandum Opinion in In re: Charles V. Cook, Sr., No. 1:14-bk-36424, evincing that debtors’ counsel can be subject to
In a recent decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court’s ruling that a defendant lender and its property preservation company did not owe the plaintiff homeowner a duty to act to prevent theft or damage to his property. The case is Malick v. JP Morgan Chase Bank
