One of the first lines of defense when defending allegations of a statutory violation is the statute of limitations. As a complete bar to a plaintiff’s claims, the statute of limitations is one of the most powerful tools in a defense litigator’s pocket. Recently, the Fourth Circuit joined the Sixth, Eighth, and Tenth Circuits in
In Alcivar v. Enhanced Recovery Company, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York awarded nearly $37,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs to a debt collection agency over a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act claim that the plaintiff’s attorneys brought in bad faith.
Plaintiff Imelda Alcivar owed approximately $1,100 on
Last week, in Russo v. POM Recoveries, Inc., the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York denied summary judgment and allowed a suit to proceed against a debt collector for an alleged violation of Section 1692c of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Plaintiff John Paul Russo alleged that POM violated
A new bill was proposed on April 7 in the House of Representatives which, if passed, would amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The proposed bill aims to regulate how medical debts are handled under these statutes.
The bill’s current name is: “To amend the Fair Credit Reporting
On April 1, the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois denied a debt collector’s motion to dismiss a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuit stemming from the consumer visiting the debt collector’s online payment portal. This decision highlights the potential risks that debt collectors face in
On March 31, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ruled in favor of a furnisher that reporting a dispute using the Compliance Condition Code of “XB,” and updating its reporting to “XH” after completing its investigation, does not violate the Fair Debt
In Salinas v. R.A. Rogers, Inc., debtor Marco Salinas obtained a personal loan that was silent as to whether interest or charges could accrue in the event of default. After Salinas defaulted, debt collector R.A. Rogers, Inc. sent a letter informing him of the total amount due and warning that interest and other charges
On March 30, 2020, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued its long awaited en banc decision in Riccio v. Sentry Credit, Inc., overruling decades-old precedent and holding Section 1692g(a)(3) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) allows debtors to dispute a debt orally as well as in writing. See No. 18-1463 (3d
On March 22, a bill to amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was introduced in the Senate to expand consumer protections provided to debtors and small businesses during a major disaster or emergency—such as the current coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic—beginning “1 day after the date on which a major disaster is declared by the President”
The United States District Court for the District of Utah recently ruled that a debt buyer, First Financial Investment Fund V, LLC, must register as a collection office and post a bond with the Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code pursuant to Section 12-1-1 of the Utah Collection Agency Act.
First Financial, as a