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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.
This appears on its face to be a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act class-action lawsuit that should serve as a reminder that when making calls to consumers, either double check the time zones or only make calls when all time zones are inside the appropriate window to be contacted.
The background: The plaintiff filed this suit in the District Court for the Central District of California after allegedly receiving five calls from the defendant, each of which was placed between 6:07am and 6:20am in the plaintiff’s time zone.
- The calls started on July 31 and ended on August 30.
- Based on the information in the complaint, it does not appear as though the plaintiff ever answered any of those calls nor did she contact the defendant at another time to inquire about the reason why the defendant was allegedly attempting to call her so early in the morning.
- The plaintiff lives in California and the defendant is based in New York state, according to the complaint. The complaint does not include the plaintiff’s phone number or area code so it’s impossible to know if she had a phone number that was originally from a different time zone than California.
The claims: The complaint accuses the defendant of violating the FDCPA and the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act in California. The class seeks to include anyone who received calls from the defendant between 9pm and 8am in connection with the collection of a consumer debt.
- The defendant is accused of violating Section 1692c(a)(1) of the FDCPA by attempting to communicate with the plaintiff outside of the allowed time window — between 8am and 9pm in the consumer’s local time.
