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Art. III Standing

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Well That’s Interesting: District Court (Ill.) Keeps Jurisdiction Over an FDCPA-Hunstein Case Despite the Consumer’s Objection that the SCOTUS’ Decision in Ramirez Deprived Her of Article III Standing

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Keller v. Northstar Location Servs., No. 21-cv-3389, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157820, at *4-6 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 20, 2021), Judge Johnson-Coleman kept jurisdiction over an FDCPA-Hunstein case despite the consumer's objection that the SCOTUS' decision in Ramirez deprived her of Article III standing. With this standard in mind, the Court turns to an Eleventh Circuit opinion where that court concluded… Read More

6th Cir. Says Procedural Harm under FDCPA Does Not Confer Art. III Standing; But the 10th Circuit Finds Standing

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Ward v. Nat'l Patient Account Servs. Sols., No. 20-5902, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 24369, at *9 (6th Cir. Aug. 16, 2021), the Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit found no Article III standing for a pure procedural violation of the FDCPA. To establish that the statutory violations here constitute concrete injury, Ward must show that NPAS, Inc.'s failure… Read More

District Court (N.Y.) Says Hunstein-Theory Cases Don’t Survive SCOTUS’ Ramirez Art. III Standing Decision

by Scott J. Hyman |

In In re FDCPA Mailing Vendor Cases, Civil Action No. 21-2312, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139848, at *14-19 (E.D.N.Y. July 23, 2021), Judge Brown dismissed a series of Hunstein-based cases due to lack of standing under Ramirez.  Each case addressed herein invokes a recently-developed "mailing vendor" theory - alleging that the defendant debt collector employed an outside firm to print and… Read More

6th Cir. Issues Some Rough Justice on Art. III Standing in FDCPA Case: Plaintiff’s Anxiety to Justify Standing “”falls squarely on” his own shoulders “because he chose not to pay his debts” and “fear[ed] the consequences of his delinquency”

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Garland v. Orlans, PC, No. 20-1527, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 16107, at *7 (6th Cir. May 28, 2021), the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit found no Article III standing arising from a debt collector's dunning letters sent to the Plaintiff. The Court of Appeals found that the confusion the Plaintiff allegedly suffered from the dunning letter did… Read More

District Court (Wis.) Says FDCPA Art. III Standing Tied to Damages Fairly Traceable to the Defendant’s Misconduct

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Johnson v. Heuer Law Offices, No. 19-CV-1171-JPS-JPS, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56709 (E.D. Wis. Mar. 25, 2021), Judge Stadtmueller granted summary judgment to a debt collection law firm who was alleged not to have “meaningful involvement” in the sending of dunning letters.  The Judge Stadmueller held that although the Plaintiff clearly had emotional distress tied to the law firm’s… Read More

Well that’s interesting. 7th Cir. Refuses to Grant Petition to Compel Arbitration of FDCPA Claim Because Plaintiff Lacked Art. III Jurisdiction to Start.

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Nettles v. Midland Funding LLC, No. 19-3327, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 40012 (7th Cir. Dec. 21, 2020), the Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit declined to address arbitration of an FDCPA case because of lack of Art. III jurisdiction to start. Most of the briefing concerns the arbitration issue, but the parties also identify a possible problem with… Read More

11th Cir. Says Overshadowing Claim Based on Second Dunning Letter Sent During FDCPA’s 30-day Validation Period Did Not Confer Art. III Standing

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Cooper v. Atl. Credit & Fin., No. 19-12177, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 23719 (11th Cir. July 28, 2020), the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit found no Article III standing for an overshadowing claim under the FDCPA. Here, Cooper's alleged injuries are just  as inchoate, if not more so. She does not allege that, without the purportedly confusing… Read More

SCOTUS Remands Google Privacy Class Action Settlement to Evaluate Spokeo Standing

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Frank v. Gaos, the SCOTUS today placed further standing impediments to privacy and other purely statutory/no damages class actions, finding, following objections to the class action settlement, that the case should be remanded to determine standing under Spokeo.  The background facts were as follows: Three named plaintiffs brought class action claims against Google for alleged violations of the Stored Communications Act.… Read More

6th Cir. Says Congress Lacks Authority to Create Injury under Article III When There Was None; Dismisses FDCPA Letter Case for Lack of Standing

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Hagy v. Demers & Adams, 2018 WL 914953, at *3–5 (C.A.6 (Ohio), 2018), the Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit held that "[w]e know of no circuit court decision since Spokeo that endorses an anything-hurts-so-long-as-Congress-says-it-hurts theory of Article III injury.".  Thus, the 6th Circuit held that a bare FDCPA violation without correlative injury did not vest Article III… Read More

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