If there was any doubt over the importance of the Hunstein case to the accounts receivable management industry, and to the camaraderie and support that companies in this industry have for one another, and that every lawyer in the country was working over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, look no further than the amicus briefs that were filed in the past few days supporting the defendant’s petition for an en banc re-hearing in the case.
Yesterday was the deadline for interested parties to submit briefs in support of the defendant’s petition to have the entire panel of judges from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals hear the case, in order to try and overturn the ruling that a three-judge panel issued on April 21 which stated that a statutory violation of Section 1692c(b) — using a vendor to print and mail collection letters — of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is sufficient to confer standing.
Briefs were filed by the following organizations, associations, and companies:
- New York State Creditors Bar Association
- Transworld Systems, Alltran Financial, Nationwide Credit, Radius Global Solutions, NGI Acquisitions, Credence Resource Management, Phoenix Financial Services, Pendrick Capital Partners, Affiliate Asset Solutions, Capio Partners, CF Medical, AssetCare, The Law Offices of Mitchell D. Bluhm & Associates
- American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management
- Revspring
- Missouri Creditors Bar Association
- Arizona, Alabama, California, Colorado, Nevada, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia Creditors Bar Associations
- National Association of Process Servers
- Consumer Relations Consortium
- RMA International
- Third Party Payment Processors Association
- LiveVox
- American Bankers Association, American Financial Services Association, Chamber of Commerce of the United States, Consumer Bankers Association, Credit Union National Association, Housing Policy Council, Mortgage Bankers Association
- ACA International
All of the briefs, as well as an updated list of cases that have been filed, and access to webinar recordings on the Hunstein case, are available on the AccountsRecovery.net Hunstein Resource Guide by clicking here. As well, click here to sign up for a webinar — sponsored by SndRight — on Wednesday, June 2 at 1pm ET to discuss how to comply with the Hunstein decision.
Now that the petition has been filed, all 12 of the judges sitting on the Eleventh Circuit will be asked if they think the case should be re-heard en banc. If one of them says yes, then a vote is held to determine how many judges on the Eleventh Circuit agree that the case should be re-heard. If a majority of the judges agree, then the court will grant the en banc petition and re-hear the case, at which point it can agree with the original ruling or reach another conclusion.
