Anxiety about whether a collection law firm will sue to collect on an unpaid debt is not enough to qualify as a concrete injury under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in upholding a lower court’s dismissal of a complaint.
A copy of the ruling in the case of Buchholz v. Meyer Njus Tanick, PA can be accessed by clicking here.
The plaintiff received two collection letters from the defendant, attempting to collect on an unpaid credit card debt. Even though the letters were from a law firm and signed by an attorney, there was no threat of legal action in the actual content either letter. Nonetheless, the plaintiff claimed to have “felt an undue sense of anxiety that he would be subjected to legal action if prompt payment was not made” so he hired a lawyer and sued the defendant.
The plaintiff alleged the defendant violated Section 1692e(3) and 1692e(10) of the FDCPA by inferring that the attorney who signed both letters did not conduct a meaningful review of the accounts before deciding whether to send out the letters or not.
A District Court judge in Michigan granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint, ruling the plaintiff lacked standing to sue and lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. Even if he had jurisdiction, the District Court said, the case would have been dismissed for failing to state a claim.
The plaintiff appealed, arguing that the anxiety he felt over the fear of litigation constituted a concrete injury as well as arguing that the alleged FDCPA violation amounts to an injury in fact.
While several courts have allowed for emotional distress awards in FDCPA cases, those cases “were accompanied by corroborating allegations that established more than bare anxiety,” the Sixth Circuit wrote in its ruling.
The Sixth Circuit also pointed out that the plaintiff’s claim that he was afraid of being sued in the future does not qualify as a concrete injury. The injury must be “certainly impending” in order to qualify, and because the letters never threatened any legal action, the plaintiff could not make the argument that he was worried about being sued.
