Ehrich v. Credit Protection Ass'n

891 F. Supp. 2d 414, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134142, 2012 WL 4119737
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 19, 2012
DocketNo. 10 CV 05863(ERK)(VMS)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 891 F. Supp. 2d 414 (Ehrich v. Credit Protection Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ehrich v. Credit Protection Ass'n, 891 F. Supp. 2d 414, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134142, 2012 WL 4119737 (E.D.N.Y. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

KORMAN, Senior District Judge.

On December 16, 2010, David Ehrich filed a complaint against Credit Protection Association, L.P. (“CPA”) on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 USC § 1692 et seq. Ehrich alleges that CPA sent him a collection note in November 2010 seeking to recover a debt owed to Time Warner Cable Company. Ehrich does not dispute the validity of the debt CPA sought to collect, nor does he claim that the primary text of the letter violates the FDCPA. Rather, Ehrich bases his claim on two Spanish sentences at the top and bottom of the letter, which roughly translate English language printed nearby.

Printed at the top of the letter is the phrase “aviso importante de cobro,” which Ehrich, relying on a Google translation website, translates as “important collection notice.” (Pl.’s 2/27/12 Certif. Ex. A.) At [415]*415the bottom of the collection notice are three Spanish phrases: “Opciones de pago,” “Llame” followed by a phone number, and “Envíe MoneyGram,” which Eh-rich translates as “Payment options,” “Call” and “Send MoneyGram.” (Id.) Eh-rich, who does not speak Spanish, claims that the notice’s inclusion of these Spanish phrases without a Spanish translation of the FDCPA-mandated disclosures and notices provided in English could mislead Spanish-speaking consumers and cause them to inadvertently waive their rights under the FDCPA.

On February 13, 2012, CPA moved for summary judgment pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 56. In lieu of responding to CPA’s motion, Ehrich moved for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12 on February 27, 2012.

DISCUSSION

The FDCPA, enacted in 1977, aimed to “eliminate abusive debt collection practices.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692(e). Among many other reforms, the FDCPA prohibits harassing or oppressive conduct on the part of debt collectors, and it requires debt collectors to provide notice to debtors of their right to require verification of a debt. Id. § 1692d, 1692g. See generally Jacobson v. Healthcare Fin. Servs., 516 F.3d 85, 89-91 (2d Cir.2008). Both the text of the FDCPA and its legislative history emphasize the intent of Congress to address the previously common and severe problem of abusive debt collection practices and to protect unsophisticated consumers from unscrupulous debt collection tactics. 15 U.S.C. § 1692(a)-(e); S.Rep. No. 95-382, at 4 (1977), 1977 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1695. The Act was not intended to enable plaintiffs to bring serial lawsuits against different debt collector defendants alleging various and often insignificant deviations from the Act’s provisions. This, however, is the use to which Ehrich has put the FDCPA, filing a total of nine complaints, including the present case, over the past seven years. Ehrich v. Am. Recovery Sys., ECF no. 1:06-cv-01306 (E.D.N.Y.); Ehrich v. Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, ECF no. 1:06-cv-05077 (E.D.N.Y.); Ehrich v. Fed. Bond and Collection Service, ECF no. 1:07-cv-03924 (E.D.N.Y.); Ehrich v. West Asset Mgmt., ECF no. 1:07-cv-00291 (E.D.N.Y.); Ehrich v. Diversified Collection Services, ECF no. 1:08-cv-01432 (E.D.N.Y.); Ehrich v. I.C. Sys., ECF no. 1:09-cv-00726 (E.D.N.Y.); Ehrich v. RJM Acquisitions LLC, 1:09-cv-02696 (E.D.N.Y.); Ehrich v. M.A.R.S., Inc., ECF no. 1:11-cv-03059 (E.D.N.Y.). This record suggests that Ehrich may be deliberately defaulting on his debts in order to provoke collection letters which are then combed by his lawyer for technical violations of the FDCPA.

In the present case, defendant argues that Ehrich lacks standing to pursue his claim under the FDCPA, as he has suffered no actual injury. Article III requires, at an “irreducible constitutional minimum,” that the plaintiff establish standing through a showing of three factors: (1) an injury in fact, (2) that is fairly traceable to the defendant’s alleged conduct, and (3) that is likely to be redressed by the requested relief. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-61, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992); see also Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737, 751, 104 S.Ct. 3315, 82 L.Ed.2d 556 (1984). At issue here is the first standing requirement, injury in fact. To demonstrate injury in fact, the plaintiff must show that he has suffered a harm that is “concrete” and “actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical.” Whitmore v. Arkansas, 495 U.S. 149, 155, 110 S.Ct. 1717, 109 L.Ed.2d 135 (1990).

[416]*416Ehrich has suffered no actual injury stemming from CPA’s allegedly illegal collection notice. In fact, Ehrich has admitted that he speaks no Spanish; he thus could not have been misled by the Spanish phrases in the collection notice. The possibility that the collection notice’s limited use of Spanish might mislead a debtor who speaks only Spanish is immaterial to the issue of Ehrich’s standing in this case. In order to meet the constitutional requirements for standing, “the plaintiff must still allege a distinct and palpable injury to himself, even if it is an injury shared by a large class of other possible litigants.” Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 501, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975). Ehrich cannot meet this burden.

Ehrich argues that the FDCPA provides for statutory standing in the absence of actual damages because it confers on the district judge the discretion to award liquidated statutory damages of up to $1,000. 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(a)(2)(A). Nevertheless, the FDCPA’s statutory damages provision is insufficient in itself to confer standing upon a plaintiff who has no other basis for his or her claim. As the Supreme Court observed, “[a]n interest unrelated to injury in fact is insufficient to give a plaintiff standing.” Vermont Agency of Natural Resources v. Stevens, 529 U.S. 765, 772, 120 S.Ct. 1858, 146 L.Ed.2d 836 (2000). In Vermont Agency, the Supreme Court considered whether a plaintiff suing under the qui tam provision of the False Claims Act (“FCA”) had standing to assert his claims because the injury alleged in the suit was suffered only by the United States. The plaintiffs only interest in the litigation was the “bounty,” in the form of a percentage of the proceeds of the suit, he stood to receive under the FCA’s qui tam provision if his suit succeeded. The Supreme Court firmly rejected the notion that this monetary interest in the suit’s outcome sufficed for standing, comparing the plaintiffs interest under the qui tam

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Bluebook (online)
891 F. Supp. 2d 414, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134142, 2012 WL 4119737, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ehrich-v-credit-protection-assn-nyed-2012.