A federal judge from New York who ruled on numerous debt collection cases is being mourned after being struck and killed in a hit-and-run accident in Florida last week. Judge Sandra Feuerstein, from the District Court for the Eastern District of New York, was hit while walking on a sidewalk in Boca Raton, Fla. The driver of the car has been arrested and is facing charges of vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a crash involving death, and leaving the scene of a crash with injury.
Judge Feuerstein was nominated to the federal bench in 2003 by former president George W. Bush. Previously a teacher before going to law school, Judge Feuerstein worked her way up through the New York judicial system before taking a spot in the Eastern District.
“Judge Feuerstein was a trailblazer and had an exceptional grasp of the law,” said Joann Needleman, a partner at Clark Hill. “She authored numerous decisions in cases involving the FDCPA and was pragmatic in her approach. It was an honor to be before her. May her memory be a blessing.”
Among the cases that Judge Feuerstein presided over included the CFPB’s lawsuit against Forster & Garbus, in which the firm was accused of misrepresenting that attorneys were meaningfully involved in lawsuits. As well, Judge Feuerstein ruled for the defendants in Solis v. Commonwealth Financial System, Inc., and Pendrick Capital Partners, in which the defendants were sued for allegedly violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by not making the proper time-barred debt disclosure notices in a collection letter.
“The Letter includes no language that the least sophisticated consumer could plausibly interpret as a settlement offer, demand for payment, or a threat of litigation,” Judge Feuerstein wrote in that ruling. “The mere mention of the ‘Current Balance’ alone does not suffice, particularly in the absence of any method to effectuate any payment such as a payment coupon, direction indicating how and where to submit payment, or reference to a payment website. Even the least sophisticated consumer would not view the Letter’s invitation to call and ‘discuss further’ to be a settlement offer.”
Nastasia Andranie Snape was driving “erratically” according to a published report and went around stopped traffic when he drove on the sidewalk and hit Judge Feuerstein and a 6-year-old boy. Snape was unconscious when she was found after crashing her car. While inside an ambulance taking her to the hospital, Snape began to fight with medics and claimed she was Harry Potter.
