A District Court judge in Louisiana has granted a defendant’s motion for summary judgment in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case over verification information that was sent to the plaintiff after the plaintiff submitted a cease request.
The background: The plaintiff claimed he became aware of two unpaid medical debts when reviewing his credit report on May 21, 2024. That same day, he sent a letter to the defendant, refusing to pay the debts and saying, “don’t contact me about this debt.” The defendant received the letter and coded the accounts to prevent future communication attempts.
- Then, two weeks later, the defendant received two dispute letters, dated May 18 and postmarked May 21. The letters indicated the plaintiff was disputing the two debts and requested the defendant “investigated and delete/correct the information in your systems and the [credit reporting agencies] as soon as possible.”
- The defendant sent two response letters to the plaintiff, stating that it had completed its investigation, had verified the debts, and would continue collection efforts. In both letters, the defendant stated that the letters were “solely for the purpose of responding to your dispute” and that “[i]f you have requested that Transfinancial stop contacting you, this will be the final communication that you receive from Transfinancial unless you send Transfinancial subsequent communication that requires a response.”
- The plaintiff filed suit, alleging the verification letters violated the FDCPA because had requested no further communications about the debts.
The ruling: Judge James D. Cain, Jr., of the District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, made short work of his ruling, saying that the plaintiff “invited” the verification letters from the defendant because he requested verification of the debts.
- The plaintiff, therefore, “waived any claim that a response his requests would violate his directive to cease communications,” Judge Cain wrote.
