Sanchez v. Pinnacle Credit Services, LLC

195 F. Supp. 3d 1184, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120116, 2016 WL 4702055
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedJuly 15, 2016
DocketCivil Action No. 15-cv-01041-PAB-CBS
StatusPublished

This text of 195 F. Supp. 3d 1184 (Sanchez v. Pinnacle Credit Services, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sanchez v. Pinnacle Credit Services, LLC, 195 F. Supp. 3d 1184, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120116, 2016 WL 4702055 (D. Colo. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER

PHILIP A. BRIMMER, United States District Judge

This matter is before the Court on Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment [Docket No. 28] and Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment as to Liability [Docket No. 29]. This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331.

I. BACKGROUND

This case arises out of defendant’s alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1692, et seq. Plaintiff Crystal Sanchez incurred a debt to Verizon Wireless (the “account”) at some time before 2014. Docket No. 28 at 2, Statement of Undisputed Material Fact (“SUMF”) 4; see Docket No. 29 at 3, SUMF 1. Defendant Pinnacle Credit Services, LLC (“Pinnacle”) purchased the account after it went into default. Docket No. 28 at 2, SUMF 5; Docket No. 29 at 3, SUMF 3. Pinnacle hired Stephens & Michaels Associates, Inc. (“SMA”) to attempt to collect the account from plaintiff. Docket No. 33 at 7, ¶ 11. Defendant admits that SMA is its agent and that it is liable for SMA’s actions. Docket No. 29 at 6, SUMF 18.

On June 30, 2014, plaintiff contacted SMA regarding the account. Docket No. 28 at 2, SUMF 7; Docket No. 29 at 3, SUMF 5. A transcription of the June 30, 2014 phone call states, in relevant part:

[SMA representative]: Good morning this is Ryan, can I help you? Good afternoon rather.
Plaintiff: Yes, this is Crystal Sanchez and Pinnacle Credit Services told me to call you guys for my Verizon Wireless account.
[SMA representative]: No problem ma’am I’d be happy to help you with that.
[[Image here]]
[SMA representative]: Okay ma’am, I do see your information here. It looks like they did place your Verizon account in our office. It’s from, let’s look here, it’s a balance of $1,256.20.
[1186]*1186Plaintiff: Yes
[SMA representative]: And is that something you would like to take care of today?
Plaintiff: Um, what is it for?
[SMA representative]: Uh, it looks like you had an account with Verizon in 2010. It was closed in 2011. At the time the account was closed, they charged off an amount of $2,144.00 Plaintiff: Okay
[SMA representative]: That’s why you are now in collections. I do want to tell you ma’am that your account qualifies for an extremely low settlement. So if it’s something you want to clear your name of we can assist you with that. Plaintiff: Okay, how low?
[SMA representative]: It looks like it qualifies for an extremely low settlement of $565.29, that’s saving you almost $700.00 dollars.
Plaintiff: Okay. Well what do you want me to do on it?
[SMA representative]: Um, we do debit, credit, check or saving by phone at no additional cost.
Plaintiff: Okay, so I need to pay it all today?
[SMA representative]: Uh, yes ma’am Plaintiff: Okay, I pay by money order not a credit card.
[SMA representative]: Okay, cause once that amount clears our office your account will be closed as settled in full. So is there any account you can attach it to today where we can guarantee you that settlement?
Plaintiff: So you said how much do I have to pay now?
[SMA representative]: It would be $565.29 but if you can’t do that entire amount, I can actually split it into a couple of payments that’s what I am authorized to do. If you wanna do half for today and the other half in July, it would be 2 payments of $282.64.
Plaintiff: Okay so how much is total owed right now?
[SMA representative]: The total balance is $1,256.20.
Plaintiff: Okay, but I don’t agree with that at all. I don’t know how it got that high. That’s wrong.
[SMA representative]: I think that’s part of the reason you know, there’s as a, like I said there’s a settlement for it and not all of them qualify for this low of a settlement. I’m not sure what happened but we are alleviating $700.00 dollars of the bill so.
Plaintiff: Okay, yeah, I don’t owe that much on Verizon. I, not even close. You know I don’t owe that much.
[SMA representative]: Okay, so are you, you don’t wanna take advantage of the settlement?
Plaintiff: I wanna settle but I don’t know, probably for less. I wanna settle for less.
[SMA representative]: Okay, I mean the only thing I can do ma’am, that is the low settlement. I can make a request to our client to see if they will accept whatever it is you are offering but chances are they say no.
Plaintiff: Yeah, cause I owe less than $500.00 dollars on this total, you know. [SMA representative]: Okay Plaintiff: I know I don’t owe Verizon more than $500.00 dollars.
[SMA representative]: Okay, so you are saying $500 is your max?
Plaintiff: Yes
* * *
[SMA representative]: I will put that request in for you today ma’am and hopefully we get a response back, chances are they may say no to that but if it’s something where they will come back with a counter-offer, you know, hopefully they will hopefully be willing [1187]*1187to work with you. That way we can get this cleared up for you.
Plaintiff: Yeah, this is messing up my credit report, so I mean, what to [sic] I have to do to get this off my credit report?
[SMA representative]: Um, well you just have to take care of it through our office because at this point you are in collections' with it we do represent Pinnacol [sic]' Credit Services but what I can tell you is once to pay.it. We will report that status that it’s been paid to our client and they make requests every 15th of the month to update credit bureaus and then.
Plaintiff: So I have, ok go ahead, go ahead.
[SMA representative]: They won’t report a'change in status for 30 days from the date of the payment so, say for example of you were to pay it today you could check in 30 days.
Plaintiff: Oh, okay, so I have to pay it to get it off my credit report right?
[SMA representative]: That’s correct. Plaintiff: Okay and that’s the only way? [SMA representative]: Mm-hmm, yeah there’s
Plaintiff: So it’s gonna, it’s it’s just gonna stay on my credit report until it’s paid off then right?
[SMA representative]: That’s correct Plaintiff: Okay.

Docket No. 28-1.1

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Adler v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
144 F.3d 664 (Tenth Circuit, 1998)
Bausman v. Interstate Brands Corp.
252 F.3d 1111 (Tenth Circuit, 2001)
Jacklovich v. Simmons
392 F.3d 420 (Tenth Circuit, 2004)
Faustin v. City and County
423 F.3d 1192 (Tenth Circuit, 2005)
Minter v. Prime Equipment Co.
451 F.3d 1196 (Tenth Circuit, 2006)
United States Ex Rel. Told v. Interwest Construction Co.
267 F. App'x 807 (Tenth Circuit, 2008)
McBeth v. Himes
598 F.3d 708 (Tenth Circuit, 2010)
Pater v. City of Casper
646 F.3d 1290 (Tenth Circuit, 2011)
Llewellyn v. Allstate Home Loans, Inc.
711 F.3d 1173 (Tenth Circuit, 2013)
Dixon v. RJM Acquisitions, LLC
640 F. App'x 793 (Tenth Circuit, 2016)
Johnson v. Riddle
305 F.3d 1107 (Tenth Circuit, 2002)
Irvine v. I.C. System, Inc.
176 F. Supp. 3d 1054 (D. Colorado, 2016)
Pumpco, Inc. v. Schenker International, Inc.
204 F.R.D. 667 (D. Colorado, 2001)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
195 F. Supp. 3d 1184, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120116, 2016 WL 4702055, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sanchez-v-pinnacle-credit-services-llc-cod-2016.