Debt collection is clearly one of the most heavily regulated industries in the United States. Federal, State and local regulators place onerous, duplicative and often confusing requirements on companies seeking to collect debts. Further, when collection agencies comply with the myriad of laws, many face lawsuits from consumer attorneys claiming that the attempts at compliance somehow violate the law.
In the this episode of the Debt Collection Drill, Attorney John Rossman and Mike Poncin discuss two recent, reported decisions where one collection agency – Financial Recovery Services, Inc. -- successfully defeated claims that its plain compliance with State and Federal regulations somehow violated the FDCPA.
Brian Bowers, the President of Financial Recovery Services, Inc., commented on one of these recent FDCPA victories by his company:
Financial Recovery Services was delighted to obtain the successful decision on the motion to dismiss in the Everett case in the Southern District of Indiana. Over the years, we have grown weary of the frivolous nature of such cases and we decided to take a stand several years ago and fight more of these ridiculous cases that are brought against our industry. Too often these cases are driven by the aggressive pursuit of consumer plaintiff attorney’s fees and not by what is fair, reasonable, and just for society in general. In the past several years, we have successfully disposed of over 23% of cases filed against us by either winning them with motions to dismiss or motions for summary judgment. We are proud to have taken a stand for everyone in the industry and we hope that we see more organizations take a stand against the frivolous nature of some of these types of cases.