We love to report wins against collection agencies. Here is yet another.
The appeals court ruled against a collection agency, United Collection Bureau, who tried to claim that the plaintiff was previously included in a class action. The plaintiff sued the collection agency, alleging various violations of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, including failing to identify itself as a collection agency and failing to inform the consumer that they were trying to collect the debt. The only problem was that another plaintiff had filed an earlier class action alleging these same violations. The other case settled for $13,000, and the defendant UCB made one publication in USA Today to potential class members. UCB argued that this plaintiff was included in the prior class action and should not be allowed to maintain a suit against UCB. In this case however, the court of appeals ruled that despite the prior class action that could have included this plaintiff, there was no due process given to other potential class members by the one-time USA Today publication. The second lawsuit will move forward against UCB. Looks like UCB won’t be getting off so easily after all. Score one for the good guys.