A District Court judge in New York has granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case, ruling the plaintiff lacked standing to file claims that the defendant violated the statute’s third-party disclosure provisions by using a third party to print and mail a collection letter.
A copy of the ruling in the case of Glick v. CMRE Financial Services can be accessed by clicking here.
The plaintiff filed suit last August, accusing the defendant of violating Section 1692c(b) of the FDCPA by disclosing her personal information to an unauthorized third party when it sent the information to a vendor to print and mail a collection letter — a Hunstein lawsuit.
But, as in many cases that have resulted in similar rulings, Judge Nelson S. Roman of the District Court for the Southern District of New York, reached the conclusion that the plaintiff’s privacy could not have been violated because the alleged disclosure of her personal information was not made to the public. This is especially true, Judge Roman noted, because the complaint “does not allege that any person has actually read her information or that it was in any way provided to the public at large.” Looking at similar rulings from the same District — Sputz v. Alltran Financial — as well as those from other Districts — Nyanjom v. NPAS Solutions — Judge Roman ruled the plaintiff lacked standing to pursue her claim.
This case did include one interesting wrinkle — the United States government was asked to weigh in on the constitutionality of Section 1692c(b) and it did file a motion supporting the provision. It also weighed in on the plaintiff’s standing and noted that “several federal courts have found that allegations much like Plaintiff’s are insufficient to give rise to Article III standing.”
