California court vindicates HCI (once again) as not covered by TCPA, but finds 70 calls over four months potentially harassing
A recent California decision touched upon two recurring sources of lawsuits against debt collectors: whether calls are subject to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and whether the sheer number of calls can constitute harassment barred
On September 27, the District Court for the Eastern District of New York dismissed a plaintiff’s complaint alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, finding a collection letter adequately set forth the amount owed and did so in a manner that was not false, deceptive, or misleading by using safe harbor language adopted
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld dismissal of a consumer’s claim that the phrase “current balance” in a collection letter obscured the static nature of her debt.
Plaintiff Patricia Ann Koehn alleged that the collection letter from defendant Delta Outsource Group, Inc. falsely implied that Koehn’s static debt was subject to interest and fees
On September 25, California Assembly Bill 539 was presented to the Governor for signing. The Bill would prohibit licensees of the California Financing Law (CFL) from charging an interest rate greater than 36% plus the applicable Federal Funds Rate on consumer loans of at least $2,500, but less than $10,000. Currently the CFL does not
On September 17, a district court judge in the Eastern District of Kentucky granted in part and denied in part a defendant debt collector’s motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. Plaintiff Timothy Flook sued Mason, Schilling & Mason, Co., L.P.A, and one of its attorneys (collectively “MSM”), claiming that
Certified Credit & Collection Bureau (“CCCB”) sent a collection letter to Delia Rodriguez seeking payment of $29.88 for an unpaid medical debt. CCCB’s letter referred to the creditor as its “client” and did not explicitly state that the client was the creditor to whom the debt was owed.
Rodriguez brought a putative class action in
In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of claims brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act based on calls made to wrong numbers. A decision in the Northern District of Illinois indicates that such calls can also give rise to exposure under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act.
In Kayyal
In Roman v. RGS Financial, Inc., No. 2:17-cv-04917-ADS-AKT (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 6, 2019), Judge Arthur D. Spatt held that RGS did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by failing to disclose that interest, late fees, and/or other fees were accruing.
Plaintiff Stephanie Roman alleged that RGS violated the FDCPA when it sent a
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit in the United Stated District Court for the District of Maryland against FCO Holding, Inc. and its subsidiaries, as well as Michael E. Sobota, the chief executive officer and 100% owner of FCO Holding, Inc. The Maryland debt collector entities operate collectively under the name Fair Collections
One of the most ambitious (i.e., bad) arguments ever made by a defendant in a TCPA case was rejected by the Western District of New York in Gerrard v. Acara Sol. Inc., 1:18-cv-1041, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108038, 2019 WL 2647758 (W.D.N.Y. June 27, 2019). Acara Solutions argued their text messages with
