On April 5, 2019, in Holzman v. Malcom S. Gerald & Assocs., Inc., 2019 WL 1495642, the Eleventh Circuit held that an express threat of litigation is not required to state a claim under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
The Southern District of Florida recently ruled that ringless voicemails (RVM) are “calls” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). In Schaevitz v. Braman Hyundai, No. 1:17-cv-23890 (S.D. Fla. Mar. 25, 2019) the defendant sent a pre-recorded RVM to the
In Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, No. 17-1307 (Sup. Ct. Mar. 20, 2019), the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that non-judicial foreclosure actions required by state law are not generally considered debt collection, and therefore are not subject to regulation
The plaintiff in Mollberg v. Advanced Call Center Technologies, Inc., No. 18-1210, 2019 WL 288128 (E.D.Wis. Jan. 22, 2019) received a letter from Advanced Call Center Technologies (which I’ll refer to as ACCT) that attempted to collect a debt owed to Synchrony
In Reyes v. Steeg Law, LLC, 2019 WL 258068, (5th Cir. Jan. 17, 2019), the Fifth Circuit considered whether a law firm was a debt collector under the FDCPA. Under the FDCPA, attorneys qualify as debt collectors when they regularly
The least sophisticated consumer doesn’t need everything spelled out for him. Or at least that’s what the Eleventh Circuit held recently in Conde v. Webcollex, LLC, No. 18-12551 — another case where a court finds that something means exactly what it
Few things under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) are subject to as much uncertainty as the definition of “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS). This year’s decision in ACA Int’l v. FCC, 885 F.3d 687 (D.C. Cir. 2018) seems to
The prospect of attorneys’ fees is often a major factor in strategy and, in particular, settlement. Defendants sometimes pay more up front just to avoid “running up” plaintiff’s counsel’s fees. On the flip side, some plaintiff’s counsel may continue to
Two weeks ago, we attended the ACA International Annual Convention in Nashville. One of the more interesting discussions focused on compliance lessons creditors and debt collectors can take away from recent court decisions.
Some of them were easy. For example,
In Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from the Tenth Circuit over whether the provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act apply to non-judicial foreclosures. The Tenth Circuit held that