Gould v. Claimassist

876 F. Supp. 2d 1018, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88668, 2012 WL 2459412
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 27, 2012
DocketNo. 11-CV-699-WDS
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 876 F. Supp. 2d 1018 (Gould v. Claimassist) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gould v. Claimassist, 876 F. Supp. 2d 1018, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88668, 2012 WL 2459412 (S.D. Ill. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

STIEHL, District Judge.

In this action, plaintiff Gary Gould alleges that defendant ClaimAssist, LLC violat[1020]*1020ed the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by sending him a demand letter without a notice of debt, which the Act requires. See 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a). Now before the Court is defendant’s motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment (Docs. 17 & 18), and plaintiffs response (Doc. 31).

On a motion to dismiss, if matters outside the pleadings are presented and not excluded by the court, the motion must be treated as one for summary judgment. Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(d). “All parties must be given a reasonable opportunity to present all the material that is pertinent to the motion.” Id. Here, defendant’s motion is labeled as an alternative motion for summary judgment, which gave plaintiff a reasonable opportunity to present material pertinent to it. See Miller v. Herman, 600 F.3d 726, 783 (7th Cir.2010). And plaintiff did in fact treat it as an alternative motion for summary judgment by, among other things, including an affidavit (Doc. 31, Ex. 1). Thus the Court will treat defendant’s motion as one for summary judgment and consider the matters outside the pleadings presented by the parties.

I. Background

Plaintiff Gary Gould received medical treatment at Southern Illinois Hospital Services (the “Hospital”) and incurred a debt of $3,453. He alleges the debt was transferred to defendant ClaimAssist, LLC for collection.

Defendant sent plaintiff a letter, which he attached to the original complaint. Toward the top, the letter says, “Balance Due: $3,453.00.” The body of the letter says:

ClaimAssist has partnered with Southern Illinois Healthcare [sic] to process this medical bill.
As you may know, the paperwork associated with healthcare claims can be complex. ClaimAssist will work on your behalf in resolving this matter. Kindly complete the attached Accident Information Form and return in the envelope provided. You may also consider completing the form by using our website:
http://www.ccsusa.com/claimassisV aceidentform/
Once we receive this information, we will prepare your claim and submit the required paperwork to your insurance company.
If you have an attorney working on this claim, please send us their name, address, and telephone number. We will contact them to discuss the proper handling of this account.
If you have any questions, or need more information, please feel free to contact me at the telephone number listed below. Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter.

(Doc. 2, Ex. A).1 The letter is signed by an “Insurance Recovery Analyst.” A box of text in the lower right says “IMPORTANT Questionnaire Attached.” And a two-page questionnaire, the “Motor Vehicle Accident Information Form,” is attached.

Plaintiff alleges that defendant violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by not sending certain notice requirements within five days of the letter above. See 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a); McKinney v. Cadleway Props., Inc., 548 F.3d 496, 502 (7th Cir.2008). (For in-stance, § 1692g(a)(3) [1021]*1021requires written notice that the debt collector will assume the debt is valid unless the consumer disputes the debt within 30 days.) Plaintiff seeks to recover damages for his anger, anxiety, emotional distress, and frustration. He also seeks statutory damages of $1,000 under § 1692k(a)(2)(A) for each violation of the Act.2

Defendant includes with its motion for summary judgment an affidavit from the associate general counsel for the Hospital, John Daly (Doc. 18, Ex. A). Daly explains the Hospital’s billing procedures as follows: When the Hospital completes medical procedures for a patient, it first bills any third-party payors, such as private insurance companies and government insurance programs. Defendant specifically helps the Hospital process the third-partypayor claims that arise from motor-vehicle and work-related accidents. Then, when all claims have been processed by third-party payors, if a balance is still owed, the Hospital will bill the patient through a medical billing company. And at that point, if the patient does not pay, the Hospital may send the account to a collection agency. The Hospital uses a different company for collections, not defendant.

Daly says the Hospital had treated plaintiff for injuries he may have sustained in a car accident. It therefore referred his account to defendant to process any third-party-payor claims. Daly notes that the debt for plaintiffs medical services, however, was still owed to the Hospital; it did not transfer or assign the debt to defendant. So, the Hospital was still processing third-party-payor claims and had not yet referred plaintiffs account to its medical billing company for billing. Nor, of course, was plaintiffs account in default yet; the Hospital had not referred it to a collection agency either.

The senior vice president of operations for defendant, Brucé Shapiro, explains that defendant’s business is processing injury-related claims for healthcare providers (Doc. 18, Ex. B). Defendant does not offer services to collect consumer debt. It does not receive accounts, bills, or other indebtedness, by assignment or otherwise, to collect monies due; it does not buy accounts, bills, or other indebtedness with recourse and collect on them; it does not receive money owed on a consumer debt from debtors. Moreover, he adds, defendant was not attempting to collect a debt from plaintiff here. Shapiro attests that defendant “has not received by assignment or otherwise the consumer debt owed by [plaintiff] to [the Hospital]” (Doc. 18, Ex. B, ¶ 13). Defendant’s letter was asking plaintiff to complete the Accident Information Form so defendant could submit plaintiffs claim to his insurance company or to the insurer of the party responsible for expenses related to plaintiffs injuries.

II. Discussion

Summary judgment is appropriate where “the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a); accord Int’l Union v. ZF Boge Elastmetall LLC, 649 F.3d 641, 646 (7th Cir.2011); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
876 F. Supp. 2d 1018, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88668, 2012 WL 2459412, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gould-v-claimassist-ilsd-2012.