Norman v. Allied Interstate, LLC

310 F. Supp. 3d 509
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 25, 2018
DocketCIVIL ACTION No. 17–5181
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 310 F. Supp. 3d 509 (Norman v. Allied Interstate, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Norman v. Allied Interstate, LLC, 310 F. Supp. 3d 509 (E.D. Pa. 2018).

Opinion

II. Standard

This motion is governed by the well-established standards of Rule 12(b)(6), as amplified by Fowler v. UPMC Shadyside , 578 F.3d 203, 210 (3d Cir. 2009).

III. Discussion

Congress passed the FDCPA in an effort to end abusive debt collection practices, acknowledging the "abundant evidence" of "abusive, deceptive, and unfair" practices. 15 U.S.C. § 1692(a), (e). The Third Circuit has emphasized that the FDCPA is a remedial statute that "must be broadly construed in order to give full effect to these purposes." Caprio v. Healthcare Revenue Recovery Grp., LLC , 709 F.3d 142, 148 (3d Cir. 2013).

To state a claim under the FDCPA, Plaintiff Norman must plausibly allege that (1) she is a consumer, (2) Defendants are debt collectors, (3) Defendants' challenged practice-the letters-involves an attempt to collect a debt as the Act defines it, and (4) that Defendants violated the FDCPA in attempting to collect the debt. See Tatis v. Allied Interstate, LLC , 882 F.3d 422, 427 (3d Cir. 2018). Defendants dispute only the second and fourth elements. Defs.' Mot. 6. LVNV disputes that it is a debt collector, and both Defendants dispute that the letters violated the Act. For the reasons that follow, I conclude that LVNV is a debt collector under the Act, and that Norman has adequately alleged two violations.

A. LVNV as a "debt collector" under the FDCPA

There are two ways in which a person or entity can qualify as a "debt collector" under the FDCPA. See § 1692a(6). The first definition encompasses "any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts." Id. The second reaches any entity that "regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed ... [to] another." § 1692a. Plaintiff initially alleged that LVNV satisfied both definitions, Compl. ¶¶ 5-6, but now argues only that LVNV falls within the "principal purpose" definition, Pl.'s Resp. 12. Defendant LVNV counters that, as a debt buyer, it cannot be a debt collector under either definition, and regardless, Plaintiff has not alleged facts in support of the "principal purpose" definition. Defs.' Mot. 7-8; Defs.' Reply 6, ECF No. 14. I disagree and, for the reasons set forth below, hold that LVNV falls within the "primary purpose" definition, and further hold that Plaintiff's allegations, bolstered by LVNV's admission that it is a debt buyer, are an adequate basis for the claim against it.

Until recently, it was settled law in the Third Circuit that debt buyers like LVNV were debt collectors under the Act, because the debts they attempt to collect were in default when they bought them. See Pollice v. Nat'l Tax Funding, L.P. , 225 F.3d 379, 404 (3d Cir. 2000) ("[T]here is no question that the 'principal purpose' of [defendant's] business is the 'collection of any debts,' namely, defaulted obligations which it purchases ...."); see also F.T.C. v. Check Inv'rs, Inc. , 502 F.3d 159, 174 (3d Cir. 2007) (emphasizing that the focus of the debt collector analysis should be whether the debt was in default when it was acquired, joining the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Circuits), abrogated in part by Henson v. Santander Consumer USA Inc. , --- U.S. ----, 137 S.Ct. 1718, 198 L.Ed.2d 177 (2017). But last year, a circuit split spurred the Supreme Court in Henson to review whether entities that regularly purchase *514debt originated by someone else and then attempt to collect on that debt "for their own account" [hereinafter "debt buyers"] are debt collectors under the Act. 137 S.Ct. at 1721.

Before addressing that question, though, the Henson Court paused to emphasize what it was not deciding. It explicitly declined to address whether those same debt buyers fall within the FDCPA's first definition of debt collector: "... any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts." Id. The Court then turned to the "much narrowed question" of whether debt buyers fall within the Act's "regularly collects ... debts owed ... another" definition. Focusing on the fact that the "plain language" of the "regularly collects" definition hinges on whether the debt is "owed [to] another," the Henson Court determined that a debt buyer "may indeed collect debts for its own account without triggering the ['regularly collects'] statutory definition." Id. at 1721-22.

Since Henson , decided in June 2017, three district courts in this Circuit have recognized its limited scope, and applied its precepts only to the "regularly collects" definition of a debt collector. See, e.g. , Beard v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC , 2018 WL 638455, at *5 (M.D. Pa. 2018). Therefore, if an entity satisfies the "primary purpose" definition of a debt collector, the Henson case does not preclude FDCPA liability, even if the entity is attempting to collect a debt for itself." Id. ; accord Barbato v. Greystone All., LLC , 2017 WL 5496047 (M.D. Pa. Nov. 16, 2017), appeal docketed , No. 18-1042 (3d Cir. Jan. 14, 2018);

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310 F. Supp. 3d 509, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/norman-v-allied-interstate-llc-paed-2018.