In a case that was defended by Xerxes Martin and Jacob Bach at Martin Golden Lyons Watts Morgan, a District Court judge in Maryland has granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss a Fair Credit Reporting Act and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case for lack of personal jurisdiction.
The Background: Back in 2020, the plaintiff terminated a lease agreement with an apartment rental in Texas. The plaintiff received a statement detailing a charge related to her lease cancellation, that the plaintiff says she paid. A month later, one of the defendants had the account placed with it, listing aTexas address as the plaintiff’s current address.
- The defendant began reporting the debt to the credit reporting agencies.
- In October 2020, the plaintiff sent a fax to the defendant, requesting validation of the debt and listing an address in Austin, Texas as her location.
- The plaintiff disputed the debt a number of times, listing addresses in California, Illinois, and Maryland.
- Last December, the plaintiff filed suit, alleging the defendants failed to follow reasonable procedures to ensure the maximum possible accuracy of her debt and failing to conduct a reasonable investigation, and for using false or misleading representations in connection with the collection of a debt.
- The defendant filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds that there is nothing in this case that ties it to being filed in Maryland.
The Ruling: Judge Theodore D. Chuang of the District Court for the District of Maryland agreed with the defendant. The defendant does not maintain any offices in Maryland, does not solicit business from Maryland residents, and there was no Maryland choice-of-law provision in the underlying agreement, Judge Chuang noted.
- Furthermore, there is no allegation that any of the plaintiff’s employees made in-person contact with the plaintiff.
- “… there is nothing inherent in the act of reporting to credit reporting agencies an alleged debt that arose from events in Texas that could support the conclusion that [the defendant] sought to direct its activity to Maryland,” Judge Chuang wrote.
