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.
I’m fully aware that this have some companies pining for the safety of phone calls and letters and questioning their digital communication plans, but it’s my hope that this doesn’t deter anyone — especially those attending ARMTech this week — from not seeing the value that these channels offer. A pair of lawsuits have been filed this month against separate companies accusing them of violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act based on the content of the text messages they sent to consumers.
The background: In one case, the defendant allegedly sent five text messages to the plaintiff over the course of a month and the plaintiff claims the messages violated the FDCPA because none of them indicated that the messages were coming from a debt collector and the communication was an attempt to collect on a debt. The plaintiff also alleges the defendant did not use its full corporate name because it left the word “Recovery” out of its name in the message.
- In the other case, the defendant allegedly sent text messages that failed disclose the full name of the defendant and failed to disclose that the defendant was a debt collector and the message was an attempt to collect on an unpaid debt.
- The plaintiff replied to the text message saying it had the wrong number — even though the name that the defendant used in the message matched the name of the plaintiff — and requesting that the defendant stop calling and texting her.
- The defendant allegedly sent three more text messages to the plaintiff, one of which the plaintiff replied stop to opt out of further communications.
The claims: One suit accuses the defendant of violating Sections 1692d, 1692e, 1692e(10), 1692e(11), 1692e(14), and Section 1006.6 of Regulation F.
- The second suit accuses the defendant of violating Section 1692d, 1692d(5), 1692d(6), 1692e, 1692e(2), 1692e(10), 1692e(11), 1692e(14), 1692f, and Section 1006.6 of Regulation F.
