Dickens v. GC Services Ltd. Partnership

706 F. App'x 529
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 23, 2017
DocketNo. 16-17168 Non-Argument Calendar
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 706 F. App'x 529 (Dickens v. GC Services Ltd. Partnership) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dickens v. GC Services Ltd. Partnership, 706 F. App'x 529 (11th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Ronnie Dickens appeals the district court’s denial of class certification, as well as its determination that he was entitled to one dollar in statutory damages, on his Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq. (“FDCPA”), claim against GC Services Limited Partnership. Dickens argues that the district court erroneously deprived him of a jury trial on statutory damages. He further argues that the district court abused its discretion by determining that he was an inadequate class representative and that a class action was not the superior method of adjudicating the putative class’s claims. We agree and therefore vacate the district court’s damages determination and denial of class certification and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. BACKGROUND

GC Services mailed a letter to Dickens seeking to collect a debt on behalf of Synchrony Bank:

As of the date of this letter, our records show you owe a balance of $7,573.00 to Synchrony Bank. If you dispute this balance or the validity of this debt, please contact us. If you do not dispute this debt within 30 days after you receive this letter, we will assume this debt is valid.
However, if you do dispute all or any portion of this debt within 30 days of receiving this letter, we will obtain verification of the debt from our client and send it to you. Or, if within 30 days of receiving this letter you request the name and address of the original creditor, we will provide it to you in the event it differs from our client, Synchrony Bank.

Collection Letter, Doc. 1-1 at 2.1

Dickens filed suit against GC Services alleging that the letter failed to comply with the FDCPA. Specifically, Dickens alleged that the letter violated 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a)(4), which requires debt collectors to provide consumers with “a statement that if the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within [a] thirty-day period that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, the debt collector will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment against the consumer.” The provision also requires debt collectors to mail [532]*532a copy of the verification to the consumer after receiving a written dispute. 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a)(4). According to Dickens, the letter failed to inform him that he had to dispute the putative debt in uniting to trigger GC Services’ verification obligation. The complaint also alleged that the letter failed to comply with 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a)(5), which requires debt collectors to provide consumers with “a statement that, upon the consumer’s written request within [a] thirty-day period, the debt collector will provide the consumer with the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor.” Once more, Dickens alleged that the letter failed to inform him that he was required to submit a request in writing to trigger GC Services’ duty to inform him of the original creditor. The complaint further alleged that these violations rendered the letter “false, deceptive, or misleading” in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1692e.

Dickens sought to represent a class under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 23(a) and (b)(3). The putative class consisted of:

(a) All persons with a Florida address, (b) to whom GC Services Limited Partnership mailed an initial debt collection communication that stated: (1) “if you do dispute all or any portion of this debt within 30 days of receiving this letter, we will obtain verification of the debt from our client and send it to you,” and/or (2) “if within 30 days of receiving this letter you request the name and address of the original creditor, we will provide it to you in the event it differs from our client,” (c) in the one year preceding the date of this complaint, (d) in connection with the collection of a consumer debt.

Compl., Doc. 1 at 7. Notably, the complaint sought only statutory damages. The complaint demanded a jury trial.

Dickens moved for class certification under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 23(a) and (b)(3), as well as for summary judgment on GC Services’ liability. The motion for class certification attached one of GC Services’ interrogatory responses, which indicated that GC Services sent 9,862 letters to Florida consumers containing the offending language. In its response to the class certification motion, GC Services attached the declaration of Mark Schordock, GC Services’ Executive Vice President of Operations. According to Schordock, GC Services declined to specify in its standard collection letter that a consumer’s debt dispute must be in writing because it was GC Services’ policy “to obtain and provide a consumer verification of a debt, or a copy of a judgment against the consumer, and mail a copy of such verification or judgment to the consumer, even if the consumer ... contacts GC Services by ... non-written means, to dispute the debt.” Schor-dock Decl., Doc. 28-1 at 1-2. Likewise, Schordock explained that the letters failed to specify that a consumer must ask for the name of the original creditor in writing because it was GC Services’ policy to provide that information even if the consumer requested it by non-written means. GC Services’ standard operating procedures manual was consistent with Schordock’s declaration.

The district court sua sponte ordered the parties to submit briefing on the extent of the putative class’s damages. The court explained that the extent of damages was crucial to the class certification inquiry, as it would help the court determine whether a class action was the most economical vehicle to adjudicate the putative class members’ claims. After briefing, but before discovery was completed, the court granted Dickens’s motion for summary judgment as to GC Services’ liability, but denied the motion for class certification. Although no motion for summary judg[533]*533ment had been filed as to damages and no trial on statutory damages had been conducted, the district court also assessed Dickens’s individual entitlement to statutory damages. The district court weighed the factors identified in 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(b)(l) and entered judgment for Dickens in the amount of one dollar.

In denying the class certification motion, the district court determined that the case satisfied three of the four Rule 23(a) prerequisites for class certification: numerosity, commonality, and typicality. The court concluded, however, that Dickens failed to meet Rule 23(a)’s adequacy requirement, because he sought only statutory—and not actual—damages, while some class members may have suffered actual damages.

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Bluebook (online)
706 F. App'x 529, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dickens-v-gc-services-ltd-partnership-ca11-2017.