New Federal Court of Appeals Rulings Favor Debt Collectors ("The Debt Collection Drill")
Debt collectors were given clarity regarding two thorny Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) issues recently by decisions issued from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In the case of Portalatin v. Blatt, the court held that a consumer was entitled to a single recovery of an FDCPA statutory penalty rather than multiple recoveries for the same alleged violation from each defendant. This issue of plaintiffs seeking to “stack” recoveries for the same alleged violations from multiple defendants is now finally resolved in favor of the debt industry. The Seventh Circuit also held in Dunbar v. Kohn that the sentence, “This settlement may have tax consequences,” did not violate the FDCPA, thus joining the numerous other courts that held this language complies with the law.
In the latest episode of The Debt Collection Drill podcast, Moss & Barnett attorneys John Rossman and Mike Poncin discuss the Portalatin and Dunbar decisions, in addition to strategies for debt collectors to avoid FDCPA issues on debt collection communications regarding interest and out-of-statute disclosures.