Hernandez v. Guglielmo

977 F. Supp. 2d 1054, 2013 WL 5437054, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139351
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedSeptember 26, 2013
DocketNo. 2:09-cv-0830-LDG-GWF
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 977 F. Supp. 2d 1054 (Hernandez v. Guglielmo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hernandez v. Guglielmo, 977 F. Supp. 2d 1054, 2013 WL 5437054, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139351 (D. Nev. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER

LLOYD D. GEORGE, District Judge.

Defendant Guglielmo has filed a motion for partial summary judgment that as a matter of law plaintiffs and the purported class are not entitled to statutory damages pursuant to § 1692k(b)(2) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) (# 83, opposition # 86, reply # 89). Title 15 United States Code section 1692k(a)(2)(B) provides that in a class action, the representative plaintiff of the class may be awarded “additional damages” up to $1,000, and that class members may be awarded “such amount as the court may allow ... without regard to a minimum individual recovery, not to exceed the lesser of $500,000 or 1 per centum of the net worth of the debt collector.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(a)(2)(B)(ii).

Section 1692k(b)(2) provides:

(b) Factors considered by the court In determining the amount of liability in any action under subsection (a) of this section, the court shall consider, among other relevant factors—
...
(2) in any class action under subsection (a)(2)(B) of this section, the frequency and persistence of noncompliance by the debt collector, the nature of such noncompliance, the resources of the debt collector, the number of persons adversely affected, and the extent to which the debt collector’s noncompliance was intentional.

In considering the application of these factors to this case, the court is mindful of the following purposes and policies of the FDCPA as recognized by the courts: “[T]he FDCPA enlists the efforts of sophisticated consumers as ‘private attorneys general’ to aid their less sophisticated counterparts, who are unlikely themselves to bring suit under the Act, but who are assumed by the Act to benefit from the deterrent effect of civil actions brought by others.” Jacobson v. Healthcare Financial Services, Inc., 516 F.3d 85, 96 (2d Cir.2008). “[T]he FDCPA permits and encourages parties who have suffered no loss to bring civil actions for statutory violations.” Id. at 96. “Without a real sting, the defendants would be unlikely to be deterred from violating the Act, in light of the substantial profit to be made using aggressive and improper collection practices.” U.S. v. National Financial Services, Inc., 98 F.3d 131, 141 (4th Cir.1996). “[T]he FDCPA provides for statutory damages and attorney’s fees, so that there would be no lack of incentive for plaintiffs to pursue individual actions.” Hicks v. [1056]*1056Client Services, Inc., 257 F.R.D. 699, 701 (S.D.Fla.2009).

A. Frequency and persistence of noncompliance by the debt collector

Defendant asserts that this factor weighs in his favor because he sent only-one copy of the letter to each of the purported class members. As plaintiffs submit, however, defendant sent 2,114 letters which violated 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a)(4) and (5) to the proposed class members, and that, at times, multiple letters were sent to a single class member (which, defendant suggests, was only because of an individual’s multiple debts). The parties argue over the application of Jerman v. Carlisle, McNellie, Rini, Kramer & Ulrich LPA, 2011 WL 1434679 (N.D.Ohio 2011), in which the Sixth Circuit remanded after a reversal by the Supreme Court which held that the bona fide error defense in the FDCPA does not apply to a violation of the Act resulting from a debt collector’s incorrect interpretation of the legal requirements of the FDCPA. In the remanded Jerman, the court took up the statutory damages issue, and accepted the following reasoning:

If the term “the number of persons adversely affected” is to have meaning, it must be something in addition to the “frequency and persistence of noncompliance.” Otherwise, the term would be superfluous and contradict the familiar statutory canon that the interpretation should give meaning to all components of a statute.

Id. at *5 (quoting Richard v. Oak Tree Group, Inc., 2008 WL 5060319 (W.D.Mich.2008)).

The court is not persuaded, however, that a single mass mailing falls outside of the “frequency” standard. Such an interpretation would take this factor out of consideration, in perhaps a determinative way, in many cases in which the scope of the noncompliance is great, yet not continuing or egregious. This would not only undermine the policies of deterrence and incentive behind the statutory damages provision, but also appears to run contrary to the actual import of § 1692k(b)(2). Subsection (b) instructs the court to consider the enumerated factors “[i]n determining the amount of liability in any action under [the section]” (emphasis added). It does not envision that no amount of liability should be found, as would possibly result under defendant’s interpretation of “frequency” as “repetitious.” Moreover, if such a meaning were intended, the ordinary and plain construct of the phrase “[i]n determining the amount of liability in any action” would predictably have added “if any” or some other qualification to “the amount of liability.”

Furthermore, the court is unconvinced that its reading of the term “frequency” is duplicative of “the number of persons adversely affected.” Obviously, the “adversely affected” assessment takes into consideration the number of people negatively impacted. That is quite different than the “frequency ... of noncompliance,” which, as in this case, may or may not have had an adverse affect, but which may still be considered redressable. In sum, the court does not find that the “frequency and persistence” factor weighs in favor of defendant merely because he did not make repeated contacts with plaintiffs or the purported class members. Rather, the court will assess the factor in determining the amount of statutory damages recoverable. See, e.g., Johnson v. CFS II, Inc., 2013 WL 1809081, at *10 (N.D.Cal.2013) (court finds that $700 is fair and just statutory penalty against defendant where there was no evidence of persistent mailings, and it appeared that defendant merely made a mistake); Patton v. Prober & [1057]*1057Raphael, 2012 WL 294537, at *6 (N.D.Cal.2012) (“In light of the lack of factual allegations suggestive of repeated egregious conduct, the Court finds that Plaintiff is entitled to $500 in statutory damages for Defendant’s violations of the FDCPA ... ”); see also Zimmerman v. Portfolio Assocs., LLC, 2013 WL 1245552 (S.D.N.Y.2013) (“Although ‘a single violation of the FDCPA is sufficient to impose liability,’ ” “courts in [the Second Circuit] have found that a [smaller] award is appropriate where there is no repeated pattern of intentional abuse or where the violation was technical”).

B.The nature of the noncompliance

Defendant argues that the nature of the noncompliance was “highly technical,” and that validation of the debt would be provided regardless of whether the request was written or oral. As the court has previously ruled, however,

While § 1692g(a)(4) and (5) does not expressly prevent the debt collector from providing verification or identity information upon oral notification of the dispute, the debt collector

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
977 F. Supp. 2d 1054, 2013 WL 5437054, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139351, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hernandez-v-guglielmo-nvd-2013.