A District Court judge in Oklahoma has granted a defendant’s motion for summary judgment in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case, ruling that a subsequent text message to the plaintiff after she had requested communications be ceased did not violate the statute because it was an attempt to collect a separate debt.
The background: The plaintiff received a text message from the defendant back in January attempting to collect on an unpaid debt owed to AT&T U-Verse. The following day, the plaintiff replied to the text message, saying “I refused to pay this debt.”
- The defendant noted the communication from the plaintiff and placed the account in cease-and-desist status.
- Two days later, the plaintiff received another text message from the defendant, attempting to collect on a different debt.
- The plaintiff filed suit, accusing the defendant of violating Section 1692c(c) of the FDCPA.
The ruling: In granting summary judgment, Judge Scott L. Palk of the District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma noted that the FDCPA’s 1692c(c) provision applies on a debt-by-debt basis. Judge Palk concluded that the defendant did not violate the statute because the second text message sent by the defendant pertained to a debt unrelated to the account flagged for cease-and-desist. The court found no evidence to support the plaintiff’s claim that the defendant improperly continued communication about the AT&T U-Verse account.
- Judge Palk also rejected the plaintiff’s request for additional discovery, citing a lack of specificity in the plaintiff’s motion and the fact that the necessary discovery materials had already been provided by the defendant.
