FDCPA Lawsuit Filed For Lying

Accusing someone of lying has been upheld as sufficient grounds for filing a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuit, by the District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. In Summers v. Merchants Credit Corp., the plaintiff explained that an employee at Merchants & Medical Credit Corporation accused her of “not being honest”— and specifically of “lying”—about her job, during a conversation in which the agent tried to collect the Plaintiff’s unpaid medical bills.Ms. Summers also told the court that Merchants Credit Corp. threatened to hand over the collections matter to an attorney if she did not pay. She claimed the company violated the harassment and abuse provisions of the FDCPA; Merchants Credit Corp filed for dismissal for failure to state a claim. But the Court decided against dismissal, stating “because some courts have found that calling a debtor a ‘liar’ could make out a claim for harassment under § 1692d.”If a collection agency has harassed you, you may be entitled to money damages up to $1,000.00, based on the FDCPA, which has been around for almost 35 years. The FDCPA is a federal law that applies to every state. In other words, everyone is protected by the FDCPA. The FDCPA is essentially a laundry list of what debt collectors can and cannot do while collecting a debt, as well as things debt collectors must do while collecting a debt. Plus, the FDCPA has a fee-shift provision. This means, the collection agency pays your attorney’s fees and costs. Founding attorney, Michael Agruss, has settled over 1,500 debt collection harassment cases. We want to help you, too.