Taylor v. Heath W. Williams, L.L.C.

510 F. Supp. 2d 1206, 2007 WL 647001
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedFebruary 26, 2007
DocketCivil Action 1:06-CV-2155-TWT
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 510 F. Supp. 2d 1206 (Taylor v. Heath W. Williams, L.L.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Taylor v. Heath W. Williams, L.L.C., 510 F. Supp. 2d 1206, 2007 WL 647001 (N.D. Ga. 2007).

Opinion

ORDER

THOMAS W. THRASH, JR., District Judge.

This is an action brought under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. It is before the Court on the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss [Doc. 2], For the reasons set forth below, the Defendants’ motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

I. BACKGROUND

This claim arises out of debt collection activities initiated against the Plaintiff, Simpfronia Taylor, by Defendants PDQ Services, Inc., Jeff Smart, and Heath W. *1209 Williams, L.L.C. On February 18, 2004, the Plaintiff signed a lease on a unit in an apartment complex owned by In-Town Land Company, Inc. d/b/a Dupont Place Apartments (“Dupont Place”). According to the Complaint, the Plaintiff signed the lease for the benefit of another individual, Kathy Hughes, and the Plaintiff was never an actual resident of Dupont Place. (Compl., ¶ 13.) After Hughes failed to pay rent, Dupont Place filed a dispossessory warrant against the Plaintiff in the State Court of DeKalb County, Georgia on August 19, 2004. Judgment was subsequently entered against the Plaintiff in the amount of $1,213.34, plus court costs and interest. The Plaintiff made payments of $500.00 and $200.00, which were crédited to the lease account by October 1, 2004. The Plaintiff then mailed a check to Du-pont Place for $513.34 on February 14, 2005, which she believed to be the remaining balance on the account.

On March 1, 2005, however, Dupont Place sent the Plaintiff a letter advising her that these payments had been applied to her account, but that a balance of $2,247.65 remained. These new charges included, among other things, October rent and a “concession payback” charge. Du-pont Place subsequently gave its state court judgment to Defendant PDQ, a debt collection service, for enforcement of the debt. The Plaintiff alleges that in April 2006, she received a telephone message from Defendant Smart regarding this alleged debt. 1 Upon returning the phone call, she alleges that the call was answered as “PDQ Services” and that she was then transferred to Smart. He informed her that there was an outstanding judgment against her in an amount in excess of $2,000.00. The Plaintiff, believing this statement to be false, responded simply, “No you don’t.”

On April 24, 2006, Defendant Heath W. Williams, L.L.C. filed a garnishment action against the Plaintiffs employer, the University of Georgia, in the Magistrate Court of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. The garnishment pleading stated that the Plaintiff was indebted “in the sum of $1,433.90 representing $1,213.34, Principal, $144.06, interest, $0.00, attorney’s fees and $76.50 in original court costs.” (Compl., ¶ 37.) Defendant PDQ subsequently mailed a certified letter to the Plaintiff. However, when the Plaintiff went to the post office to retrieve this letter and discovered that it was from PDQ, she refused to accept it. She thus did not learn of the garnishment proceeding until around May 2, 2006, when she received a letter from her employer alerting her that a garnishment claim had been filed against her.

On May 4, 2006, the Plaintiff filed a Request for a Traverse Hearing in the magistrate court disputing the validity of this garnishment. The court scheduled a hearing for May 12, 2006. Despite being notified in advance, Defendant Williams did not appear. At that hearing, the magistrate judge ordered that the garnishment be dismissed with prejudice. That same day, Defendant Williams sent a letter to the magistrate court addressing service on the Plaintiff, which stated in part: “Please make the appropriate notation in the file, so that funds will be paid after the Garnishee files an answer.” (Compl., Ex. F.)

On May 15, 2006, Smart mailed the Plaintiff a letter stating that she still had a balance of $1,498.90 on the Dupont Place account. The letter also claimed that the Defendants had previously sent her a letter on April 14, 2006, providing her with “a *1210 first notice of placing your account for collection.” (Compl., Ex. G.) The Plaintiff then learned on May 16, 2006, that, as a result of the garnishment, $380.65 had been deducted from her payroll check. 2

On May 30, 2006, the Plaintiffs counsel sent a letter to Defendant Williams informing him that the Plaintiff did not owe the alleged debt and providing documentation of her prior payments on this account. This letter was not received by Williams until June 2, 2006. In the meantime, Williams filed a Suit on Account against the Plaintiff in the Magistrate Court of Athens-Clarke County. This lawsuit acknowledged that the Plaintiff had paid the previous judgment, but sought to recover accrued rent and other charges in the amount of “$3,166.55 representing $2,247.46 principal, $449.54 interest, $404.55 attorney’s fees, and $65.00 costs to date.” (Compl., ¶ 83.)

The Plaintiff filed this Complaint on September 11, 2006, alleging several claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., arising out of the Defendants’ conduct in seeking to collect on this alleged debt. Included are allegations that the Defendants violated the following provisions of the FDCPA: (1) 15 U.S.C. § 1692e; (2) 15 U.S.C. § 1692g; (3) 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692b and 1692c(b); (4) 15 U.S.C. § 1692d; and (5) 15 U.S.C. § 1692f. She also claims that the Defendants failed to comply with the garnishment notification provisions required under O.C.G.A. § 18-4-64. The Defendants have moved to dismiss these claims.

II. MOTION TO DISMISS STANDARD

A complaint should be dismissed under Rule 12(b)(6) only where it appears beyond doubt that no set of facts could support the plaintiffs claims for relief. Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6); see Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Linder v. Portocarrero, 963 F.2d 332 (11th Cir.1992). In ruling on a motion to dismiss, the court must accept the facts pleaded in the complaint as true and construe them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. See Quality Foods de Centro America, S.A. v. Latin American Agribusiness Dev. Corp., S.A., 711 F.2d 989, 994-95 (11th Cir.1983).

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

Related

Lee v. Medicredit, Inc.
S.D. Georgia, 2022
Domke v. MRS BPO, LLC
M.D. Florida, 2020
Brown v. Credit Management, LP
131 F. Supp. 3d 1332 (N.D. Georgia, 2015)
McDermott v. Marcus, Errico, Emmer & Brooks, P.C.
911 F. Supp. 2d 1 (D. Massachusetts, 2012)
Winberry v. UNITED COLLECTION BUREAU, INC.
697 F. Supp. 2d 1279 (M.D. Alabama, 2010)
Vitullo v. Mancini
684 F. Supp. 2d 760 (E.D. Virginia, 2010)
Reese v. JPMorgan Chase & Co.
686 F. Supp. 2d 1291 (S.D. Florida, 2009)
Baker v. Allstate Financial Services, Inc.
554 F. Supp. 2d 945 (D. Minnesota, 2008)
Diaz v. D.L. Recovery Corp.
486 F. Supp. 2d 474 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
510 F. Supp. 2d 1206, 2007 WL 647001, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-heath-w-williams-llc-gand-2007.