A District Court judge in Ohio has granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss a class-action lawsuit alleging it violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by informing the recipient of a collection letter than payments made using a debit or credit card would be subject to a 3% transaction fee.
A copy of the ruling in the case of Shepherd v. Debt Recovery Solutions of Ohio can be accessed by clicking here.
The plaintiff received a collection letter from the defendant attempting to collect on an unpaid medical debt. The letter included the statement that a 3% transaction fee would be charged if the plaintiff made a payment using a debit or credit card. The plaintiff filed suit, alleging the statement was a false and misleading statement in violation of the FDCPA that “unfairly” advised him he owed more than the debt and by attempting to collect an amount not expressly authorized by the underlying agreement under which the debt was incurred.
Judge Jeffrey Helmick of the District Court for the Northern District of Ohio never necessarily made it to the merits of the plaintiff’s arguments, ruling that the plaintiff did not have standing to sue because he did not state an injury in fact.
At the end of the day, even if the 3% transaction fee was a violation of the FDCPA, the plaintiff’s allegations only establish that the potential violation could have caused him harm, Judge Helmick wrote. The letter did not require the plaintiff to make a payment exclusively by debit or credit card, in fact it expressly informed him he was not required to do so. A fear of “future harm” is not an injury in fact unless the future harm is “certainly impending,” Judge Helmick ruled. There was nothing in the plaintiff’s complaint to support that claim, Judge Helmick wrote.
