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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.
A collection operation is facing a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuit for allegedly including the plaintiff’s son, brother, and an unknown third party — in the same email message that was sent to the plaintiff attempting to collect on a debt.
The background: Last August, the plaintiff received an email from the defendant, attempting to collect on an unpaid debt owed to a dance studio for lessons for the plaintiff’s daughter.
- According to the complaint, the email seemed straightforward enough. It included a link to pay the debt with a credit or debit card online and the defendant’s phone number if the plaintiff wanted to make the payment over the phone instead. It also included the account number and the following disclosure, “Should you choose not to settle this matter in accordance with the terms above, we will attempt to seek not only the full balance owed, but we will also seek damages incurred by my client, all court costs involved in prosecuting this, the maximum amount of interest allowed by law as well as any and all attorney’s fees that my client spends attempting to resolve this matter… This is an attempt to collect a debt any information obtained will be used for that purpose.”
- The issue is the not only was the email sent to the plaintiff, but the same message was also allegedly sent to the plaintiff’s son, brother, and an unknown third party. The complaint doesn’t specify whether they were all included in the message that was sent to the plaintiff or if they all received the same message separately.
- The plaintiff never provided any of the additional emails to the dance studio, according to the complaint.
- The defendant must have used an online search or skip trace system to obtain the email addresses, according to the complaint.
- The defendant’s actions caused the plaintiff to suffer embarrassment, anguish, and emotional and mental pain, according to the complaint.
The claims: The complaint accuses the defendant of violating Section 1692b(1), 1692b(5), 1692d, 1692e, 1692e(10), and 1692f of the FDCPA by communicating information about a debt to a third party without the plaintiff’s consent.
