A District Court judge in Utah has certified a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act class action case which accused a defendant of pursuing judgments on defaulted debts without registering as a debt collector in the state.
A copy of the ruling in the case of Lawrence v. First Financial Investment Fund V can be accessed by clicking here.
The lead plaintiff filed her lawsuit after the defendant filed a debt collection action against her in an attempt to collect on an unpaid medical debt. The defendant obtained a judgment, but was not registered as a debt collector in Utah at the time. The defendant filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the registration requirement did not apply to it, but a District Court judge disagreed, allowing the plaintiff to move forward and file for class certification.
The plaintiff was seeking to certify two classes — one for individuals who may have claims under the FDCPA and one for individuals who have claims under the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act. In total, there are about 1,800 plaintiffs in both classes. That number represents the individuals who had debt collection lawsuits filed against them in Utah by the defendant for the three year period leading up to when this lawsuit was filed.
The defendant attempted to make a res judicata argument to defeat the certification motion, but Judge Robert Shelby of the District Court for the District of Utah ruled that even though the defendant ultimately obtained a judgment against the lead plaintiff — which it did in a minority of the cases involving the members of the class — that was not enough to prove a conflict existed between the lead plaintiff and the other potential members of the class.
