When writing summaries of legal rulings, I usually try to find a quote from the judge, to either summarize the situation or provide color or because what the judge wrote was funny or clever. When it comes to the ruling you’re going to read about in this case, though, I want to just copy and paste all 16 pages of it. A District Court judge in Pennsylvania has ordered the attorneys representing a pair of plaintiffs in Fair Debt Collection Practices Act cases to pay all of the attorney’s fees, expenses and costs for the defendant, calling out the attorneys for engaging in a “campaign of deception designed to line their own pockets” by handwriting “stream-of-conscience” dispute letters on behalf of clients.
The letters would contain a “brief, equivocal” statement that could be interpreted as disputing the debt, wrote Judge Cathy Bissoon of the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Something like, ““I just don’t think that [the debt collection company’s report that I owe it money] is correct.” The letters would also claim that the individuals were not customers or clients of the creditor and could not imagine how they owed the company anything.
The fact that the letters were handwritten was done on purpose. From Judge Bissoon:
“… counsel’s efforts were specifically designed to evade common tools used by debt collection companies to detect debt disputes. Their hope was to generate lawsuits based on the unlikelihood of the debt collection companies discerning that the debt was ‘disputed,’ given the manipulative camouflaging in the letters.”
Both of the plaintiffs in this case wrote to dispute purchases of the same model of TV and were both frustrated because they “just want[ed] to watch the games on Sunday,” according to the letters that were sent to the defendant. The attorneys and their staff then signed the letters in the name of the consumer.
The attorneys claimed they had permission from their clients to write the letters.
Dismissing the underlying lawsuits, Judge Bissoon also ordered the attorneys to write apology letters to the plaintiffs they were representing and attach her ruling to every case filed by the attorneys that directly or indirectly relates to their debt defense and consumer protection practice.
Learn More. Dispute Letter 1. Dispute Letter 2
