Collector - October 2016 - 43
IAP
Florida Legislature could have made these
statutes apply to all debt collectors collecting
every kind of debt, they did not.
The plaintiff in the Parham case filed
suit against the collection agency seeking
damages for alleged FDCPA and FCCPA
violations. The parties' dispute related to
an automobile accident that occurred in
January 2013 involving a car owned by the
plaintiff. The plaintiff reported the accident
to his insurance carrier, which later paid a
$298 claim for property damage to the other
driver's vehicle.
In November 2014, the plaintiff began
receiving letters and telephone calls
from the collection agency attempting to
collect on an alleged $50,000 debt owed
for damages arising out of the January
2013 automobile accident. According to
the plaintiff, the alleged $50,000 debt did
not exist and, instead, was fabricated by
the collection agency. Since the alleged
debt did not exist and, therefore, the
plaintiff did not owe it, the plaintiff
claimed the collection agency violated the
FDCPA and FCCPA.
In granting the collection agency's motion
to dismiss and/or motion for judgment on
the pleadings, the district court explained
that a plaintiff must allege the existence of
a consumer debt in order to state a claim
under the FDCPA and FCCPA. The district
court also explained that in order to qualify
as a consumer debt, the debt must arise as a
result of a consensual transaction, not as a
result of negligence.
Since the alleged debt, whether it was real
or fabricated, was traceable to an automobile
accident rather than a consensual
transaction, the district court ruled that the
plaintiff failed to state a claim under the
FDCPA and FCCPA.
On May 31, 2016, ACA submitted an
amicus brief to the Eleventh Circuit in
the Parham appeal. ACA submitted the
"friend of the court" brief to support
its member's case, and to combat the
consumer advocate's attempt to expand
the scope of the FDCPA to include "any
debt of any kind, as long as an individual
debtor denies the debt's existence."
COLLECTOR 10.16
ACA argued that doing so would sweep
into the statute not only subrogation debts,
but also business and commercial debts,
taxes, fines, alimony or tort claims, which
would contradict the statutory text and
the longstanding interpretation of that
text. ACA also argued that the plaintiff 's
approach would make the debt collection
practices statutes' scope dependent on the
debtor's characterization of the debt as
disputed or not, which would violate the
debt collector's right to due process.
Although the Eleventh Circuit issued to
its decision in Parham as an unpublished
opinion, the appellate court's legal analyses
in Parham is important to future litigants
and to the credit and collection industry
at large.
ACA is encouraged by this important
decision and confident it will become
positive persuasive authority in jurisdictions
throughout the country. ACA is also
pleased that the Parham decision raises the
number of industry-favorable decisions
(wins) the association has helped to achieve
for its members through the Industry
Advancement Program to a total of 20 in less
than three years.
ACA's efforts to proactively support the
credit and collection industry are part of
the association's Industry Advancement
Program, and are made possible by
funding through ACA's Industry
Advancement Fund.
To read more about the most recent
significant decisions involving the credit
and collection industry, ACA's members
can always find concise case squibs and
summaries at acainternational.org/iap.
Karen Scheibe Eliason is ACA International's
corporate counsel.
43
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Collector - October 2016
President’s Page
Industry News
Best Practices
FYI
Collection Tips
Connect the Dots
Looking Deeper
Head of the Class
Calendar
Honor Roll
The Formula of Five
How to Create Winning Bids and Proposals
A Running Start
ACPAC Election Watch
ACA’s Industry Advancement Program Aids Eleventh Circuit Win for Member Company
Compliance
ACA SearchPoint
Last Word
Collector - October 2016 - Cover1
Collector - October 2016 - Cover2
Collector - October 2016 - 1
Collector - October 2016 - 2
Collector - October 2016 - President’s Page
Collector - October 2016 - Industry News
Collector - October 2016 - 5
Collector - October 2016 - 6
Collector - October 2016 - 7
Collector - October 2016 - Best Practices
Collector - October 2016 - 9
Collector - October 2016 - FYI
Collector - October 2016 - 11
Collector - October 2016 - Collection Tips
Collector - October 2016 - 13
Collector - October 2016 - Connect the Dots
Collector - October 2016 - 15
Collector - October 2016 - 16
Collector - October 2016 - 17
Collector - October 2016 - 18
Collector - October 2016 - 19
Collector - October 2016 - Looking Deeper
Collector - October 2016 - 21
Collector - October 2016 - 22
Collector - October 2016 - 23
Collector - October 2016 - Head of the Class
Collector - October 2016 - 25
Collector - October 2016 - 26
Collector - October 2016 - 27
Collector - October 2016 - Calendar
Collector - October 2016 - Honor Roll
Collector - October 2016 - The Formula of Five
Collector - October 2016 - 31
Collector - October 2016 - How to Create Winning Bids and Proposals
Collector - October 2016 - 33
Collector - October 2016 - 34
Collector - October 2016 - 35
Collector - October 2016 - A Running Start
Collector - October 2016 - 37
Collector - October 2016 - 38
Collector - October 2016 - 39
Collector - October 2016 - ACPAC Election Watch
Collector - October 2016 - 41
Collector - October 2016 - ACA’s Industry Advancement Program Aids Eleventh Circuit Win for Member Company
Collector - October 2016 - 43
Collector - October 2016 - Compliance
Collector - October 2016 - 45
Collector - October 2016 - ACA SearchPoint
Collector - October 2016 - 47
Collector - October 2016 - Last Word
Collector - October 2016 - Cover3
Collector - October 2016 - Cover4
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