This is one of those rulings where there it seems like there is a lot of backstory that isn’t being told. A District Court judge in Texas has granted a plaintiff’s motion for default judgment in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case against a collection agency — 18 months after the parties had reached a settlement on the case. It appears as though that’s the point where the defendant stopped responding to the proceedings and the defendant’s attorney withdrew from the case.
The Background: The plaintiff filed suit after his son-in-law received two text messages that were purportedly from the defendant seeking to collect on the debt. The text messages disclosed that the communication was from the defendant, that the defendant was a debt collection agency, and the amount of the debt.
- The plaintiff also accused the defendant of violating the FDCPA by sending him a text message that did not identify the defendant as a collection agency.
The Proceedings: The suit was originally filed back in September 2021. In April 2022, the parties notified the judge that a settlement had been reached. The defendant, though, failed to respond to the plaintiff’s attempts to finalize the settlement agreement. Counsel for the defendant was then allowed to withdraw and the defendant was ordered to find a new attorney, but failed to do so.
The Ruling: Judge Keith P. Ellison of the District Court for the Southern District of Texas awarded the plaintiff $1,000 in statutory damages — which was the amount being sought by the plaintiff.
- The plaintiff can also submit a motion for his attorney’s fees and costs, which will also be paid by the defendant.
