The FDCPA Takes a New Direction: Federal Review of State Court Litigation Practices

In recent years, debtors have brought suit in federal courts alleging that procedures used by lawyers in state court collection litigation are the type of "abusive debt collection practices" prohibited by the the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (the "FDCPA"). As a result, debt...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Business Lawyer 2008-02, Vol.63 (2), p.717-728
Main Authors: Merikes, Bruce N., Christakis, Anna-Katrina S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Appellate courts
Attorneys
Attorneys fees
Civil procedure
Collection (Accounting)
Commercial law
Consumers
Credit collections
Criminal defense attorneys
Debt
Debt collection
Debtors
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act 1977-US
Federal court decisions
Federal legislation
Fees
Fees & charges
Laws, regulations and rules
Legal practice
Litigation
Sanctions
Small claims courts
State court decisions
State courts
State laws
Survey—Consumer Financial Services
Trials
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Summary:In recent years, debtors have brought suit in federal courts alleging that procedures used by lawyers in state court collection litigation are the type of "abusive debt collection practices" prohibited by the the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (the "FDCPA"). As a result, debt collection litigators are now increasingly subject to an additional set of rules imposed by the FDCPA and administered by federal district courts. This survey reviews the existing state law anti-abuse rules, how the additional system of federal law developed, the status of the bona fide error defense, and how debt collection lawyers are being required to change the way they practice in state courts. Taken as a whole, the cases noted in this survey cast doubt on the Supreme Court's suggestion in Heintz that the courts will use the bona fide error defense to avoid the anomalies created by applying the FDCPA to litigating lawyers.
ISSN:0007-6899
2164-1838