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DISCLAIMER: This article is based on a complaint. The defendant has not responded to the complaint to present its side of the case. The claims mentioned are accusations and should be considered as such until and unless proven otherwise.
A collector is being accused of violating that Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Regulation F in a class-action lawsuit because it allegedly sent two emails to the plaintiff at 6:02am and 6:34am local time.
A copy of the complaint, filed in the District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, can be accessed using case number 23-cv-02783 or by clicking here.
The two emails — one sent on November 29, 2022 and the other sent on December 20, 2022 — were attempts to collect on a debt owed to a veterinary practice. The first email was allegedly sent at 6:02am and the second was allegedly sent at 6:34am. The complaint accuses the defendant of violating Section 1692c(a)(1) of the FDCPA by communicating with the plaintiff at an inconvenient time, which is before 8:00am. Regulation F also prescribes that collectors should not send electronic communications at unreasonable times.
The plaintiff claims that receiving the emails at those times led to an increased heartrate, difficulty sleeping, anxiety, and stress. The defendant’s conduct also frustrated the plaintiff’s ability to intelligently respond to the defendant’s collection efforts and the plaintiff would have pursued a different course of action were it not for the alleged violations. The plaintiff suffered a concrete and particularized harm in the form of an invasion of privacy, according to the complaint.
The complaint seeks to include anyone in Georgia who received an email or electronic communication from the defendant before 8:00am and after 9:00pm who did not consent to receiving communications at those times.
The complaint accuses the collector of also violating Sections 1692e, 1692e(10), and 1692f of the FDCPA.
