In Slorp v. Lerner, Sampson & Ruthfuss, plaintiff alleged that defendant violated the FDCPA by filing suit, and continuing to prosecute a mortgage foreclosure action. The district court dismissed the case, finding it was barred by the FDCPA’s one year statute of limitations, and plaintiff appealed. Plaintiff argued that the claim was timely filed, under the continuing violation doctrine, because defendant’s subsequent prosecution of the case exacerbated the alleged injuries. The court rejected defendant’s argument, and affirmed the district court finding that the limitation period runs from the date the original foreclosure action was filed, rendering the continuing violation doctrine inapplicable.
In Charvat v. Allstate, plaintiff alleged that defendant violated the TCPA by calling his cell phone without consent and with a dialer. Defendant moved to dismiss, arguing that plaintiff consented to the calls by providing his contact information during a call. The court rejected this defense, finding that providing the cell phone during an automated call could not be “prior express” consent for that call.
In McIvor v. Credit Control Services, plaintiff alleged that defendant violated the FDCPA by failing to include notice of his dispute when reporting the debt to the credit reporting agencies. The district court dismissed the claim, and plaintiff appealed. On appeal, the court concluded that the failure to include the dispute was not false or misleading in violation of the FDCPA when the credit bureau was already aware of the dispute, the failure to include the dispute did not affect the debtor’s ability to respond to the claimed debt, and there was no possibility anyone could have been misled by the omission when plaintiff’s dispute was known. The court also found that the reporting was not a communication in connection with the collection of a debt so as to be subject to the FDCPA, when defendant communicated with the credit bureau pursuant to its statutory obligations and in response to a request for re-investigation.
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