EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is part of a series that is sponsored by WebRecon. WebRecon identifies serial plaintiffs lurking in your database BEFORE you contact them and expose yourself to a likely lawsuit. Protect your company from as many as one in three new consumer lawsuits by scrubbing your consumers through WebRecon first. Want to learn more? Call (855) WEB-RECON or email admin@webrecon.net today! Thanks to WebRecon for sponsoring this series.
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 facing a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act class-action lawsuit because of issues with the itemization table in the Model Validation Notice, because the figures in the table do not appear to add up. The suit was originally filed in New Jersey state court and then subsequently removed to federal court by the defendant.
The Background: The plaintiff received a Model Validation Notice from the defendant. In the itemization table, the defendant indicated:
As of December 31, 2022, you owed: $7,981.48
Between December 31, 200 and today:
This amount in interest was charged: $0.00
This amount in fees was charged: $0.00
This amount was paid or credited toward the debt: $-173.00
Total amount of the debt now: $7,981.48
Either the amount of the debt owed now should be $7,808.48 because $173 should be deducted from the total amount owed, or even the least sophisticated consumer would be confused about how that math adds up, according to the complaint.
- Even if the amount owed is $7,981.48, the notice violates Regulation F and the FDCPA because it contains two distinct amounts that could be owed, one of which is false.
The Claims: The defendant is accused of violating Sections 1692e, 1692e(2)(A), 1692e(10), 1692g, and 1692g(a)(1).
The suit seeks to include anyone else living in New Jersey — where the suit was filed — who received a letter from the defendant where the amounts in the itemization table did not add up correctly.
