Wilbur Macy v. GC Services Ltd. P'ship
Opinion
Plaintiffs Wilbur Macy and Pamela J. Stowe (Plaintiffs) brought this putative class action against GC Services Limited Partnership (GC), a debt collector, alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA),
I. BACKGROUND
The facts are undisputed. Plaintiffs both received a letter from GC notifying them that their Synchrony Bank credit-card accounts had been referred to GC for collection. The letters contained the following statement about the procedure for obtaining verification of the debt and the name and address of the original creditor:
[I]f you do dispute all or any portion of this debt within 30 days of receiving this letter, we will obtain verification of the debt from our client and send it to you. Or, if within 30 days of receiving this letter you request the name and address of the original creditor, we will provide it to you in the event it differs from our client, Synchrony Bank.
(R. 1-1, PID 14; R. 1-2, PID 16.)
Plaintiffs assert that the letters were deficient because they failed to inform Plaintiffs that GC was obligated to provide the additional debt and creditor information only if Plaintiffs disputed their debts in writing . Plaintiffs filed a complaint on their own behalf and on behalf of a class of similarly situated individuals, alleging violations of two subsections of the FDCPA that impose notice requirements containing the in-writing provisions, 1692g(a)(4) and (5).
GC moved to dismiss the suit for lack of standing. In denying GC's motion, the district court determined that GC's letters created a "substantial" risk that consumers would waive important protections afforded to them by the FDCPA by following GC's deficient instructions for obtaining verification of the debt or the identity of the original creditor.
*752 GC reasserted its challenge to standing at the class-certification stage. The district court certified a class of Kentucky and Nevada consumers, rejecting GC's argument that certain elements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 were not satisfied because Plaintiffs had not shown that each member of the class had standing. We granted GC's petition for interlocutory review of the district court's certification order.
On appeal, GC argues that: 1) Plaintiffs' claims must be dismissed because Plaintiffs lack Article III standing, and 2) the district court abused its discretion by certifying the class "because the certified class is not limited to individuals who sustained a concrete injury." (Appellant's Br. at x.)
II. STANDING
A. Standard of Review
We "review a district court's decision regarding a plaintiff's Article III standing
de novo
."
Murray v. U.S. Dep't of Treasury
,
B. Applicable Law
"Article III of the Constitution limits the judicial power of the United States to the resolution of 'Cases' and 'Controversies,' and 'Article III standing ... enforces the Constitution's case-or-controversy requirement.' "
Hein v. Freedom From Religion Found., Inc.
,
"[T]he irreducible constitutional minimum of standing contains three elements."
Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife
,
"Each element of standing 'must be supported in the same way as any other matter on which the plaintiff bears the burden of proof, i.e., with the manner and degree of evidence required at the successive stages of the litigation.' "
Fair Elections Ohio v. Husted
,
Here, GC challenges Plaintiffs' ability to demonstrate the first standing requirement-injury in fact.
C. Injury in Fact and Spokeo
The Supreme Court in
Lujan
stated that injury in fact "may exist solely by virtue of statutes creating legal rights, the invasion of which creates standing."
However, the Court went on to explain that a "violation of a procedural right granted by statute can be sufficient in some circumstances to constitute injury in fact," and "in such a case [a plaintiff] need not allege any
additional
harm beyond the one Congress has identified."
Applying this framework to the claim before it, the Court stated:
On the one hand, Congress plainly sought to curb the dissemination of false information by adopting procedures designed to decrease that risk. On the other hand, Robins cannot satisfy the demands of Article III by alleging a bare procedural violation. A violation of one of the FCRA's procedural requirements *754 may result in no harm. For example, even if a consumer reporting agency fails to provide the required notice to a user of the agency's consumer information, that information regardless may be entirely accurate. In addition, not all inaccuracies cause harm or present any material risk of harm. An example that comes readily to mind is an incorrect zip code. It is difficult to imagine how the dissemination of an incorrect zip code, without more, could work any concrete harm.
Unsurprisingly, the parties present diverging interpretations of Spokeo . 3 Plaintiffs argue that they need not allege any " additional harm beyond the one Congress has identified." GC, on the other hand, argues that "accusations of procedural violations of a statute, without a concrete injury, do not confer standing," 4 and that standing exists only when a plaintiff alleges an injury beyond the harm to a statutory interest identified by Congress. We disagree.
A long line of Supreme Court precedent, cited approvingly in
Spokeo
, supports the conclusion that
Spokeo
did not mean to disturb the Court's prior opinions recognizing that a direct violation of a specific statutory interest recognized by Congress, standing alone, may constitute a concrete injury without the need to allege any additional harm.
See
Spokeo
,
As the Second Circuit recognized in
Strubel v. Comenity Bank
,
where Congress confers a procedural right in order to protect a concrete interest, a violation of the procedure may demonstrate a sufficient "risk of real harm" to the underlying interest to establish concrete injury without "need [to] allege any additional harm beyond the one Congress has identified."
On remand from the Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit in
Robins v. Spokeo, Inc.
,
The Sixth Circuit has also had occasion to interpret and apply
Spokeo
. In
Soehnlen v. Fleet Owners Ins. Fund
,
In sum,
Spokeo
categorized statutory violations as falling into two broad categories: (1) where the violation of a procedural right granted by statute is sufficient in and of itself to constitute concrete injury in fact because Congress conferred the procedural right to protect a plaintiff's concrete interests and the procedural violation presents a material risk of real harm to that concrete interest; and (2) where there is a "bare" procedural violation that does not meet this standard, in which case a plaintiff must allege "
additional
harm beyond the one Congress has identified."
Spokeo
,
D. Analysis
Congress enacted the FDCPA because of "abundant evidence of the use of abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices by many debt collectors" that "contribute to the number of personal bankruptcies, to marital instability, to the loss of jobs, and to invasions of individual privacy."
To advance these goals, the FDCPA codified several specific consumer-protective rights, including those in Section 1692g, which sets out requirements for a debt collector's "initial communication with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt," including that the communication notify the consumer of the right to dispute the debt and to seek verification of the validity of the debt through written notice and request to the creditor. 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a). If the debtor makes such a written verification request, the debt collector must cease collection efforts until the verification is provided to the consumer.
(4) a statement that if the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within [a] thirty-day period that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, *757 the debt collector will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment against the consumer and a copy of such verification or judgment will be mailed to the consumer by the debt collector; and
(5) a statement that, upon the consumer's written request within [a] thirty-day period, the debt collector will provide the consumer with the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor.
15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a) (emphases added). 6 And Section 1692g(b) provides that
[i]f the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period ... that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, or that the consumer requests the name and address of the original creditor, the debt collector shall cease collection of the debt, or any disputed portion thereof, until the debt collector obtains verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment, or the name and address of the original creditor, and a copy of such verification or judgment, or name and address of the original creditor, is mailed to the consumer by the debt collector.
Significantly, the FDCPA gives consumers a private right of action to enforce its provisions against debt collectors. 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(a).
Assuming arguendo that the language of GC's letters constitutes a procedural violation of the FDCPA, Plaintiffs have demonstrated a sufficient "risk of real harm" to the underlying interest to establish concrete injury without the "need [to] allege any
additional
harm beyond the one Congress has identified."
Spokeo
,
As the Second Circuit explained, " Section 1692g furthers th[e] purpose [of protecting debtors from abusive debt collection practices] by requiring a debt collector who solicits payment from a consumer to provide that consumer with a detailed validation notice, which allows a consumer to confirm that he owes the debt sought by the collector before paying it."
Papetti v. Does 1-25
,
GC's letters present a risk of harm to the FDCPA's goal of ensuring that consumers are free from deceptive debt-collection practices because the letters provide misleading information about the manner in which the consumer can exercise the consumer's statutory right to obtain verification of the debt or information regarding the original creditor. In responding to a debt-collection notice, an oral inquiry or dispute of a debt's validity has different legal consequences than a
*758
written one.
See
Camacho v. Bridgeport Fin. Inc.
,
Plaintiffs allege in their complaint:
33. Defendant's misstatement of the rights afforded by the FDCPA would cause the least-sophisticated consumer [ 8 ] to understand, incorrectly, that validation of the debt, or a request for the name and address of the original creditor, could be obtained through an oral request, or by means other than in writing. Such a misunderstanding could lead the least-sophisticated consumer to waive or otherwise not properly vindicate her rights under the FDCPA.
34. Indeed, failing to dispute the debt in writing , or failing to request the name and address of the original creditor, in writing , would cause a consumer to waive the important protections afforded by 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(b) -namely, that a debt collector cease contacting the consumer until the debt collector provides the consumer with verification of the alleged debt and/or the original creditor's name and address, as requested.
(R. 1, PID 6-7.)
Thus, Plaintiffs allege a risk of harm that is traceable to GC's purported failure to comply with federal law, namely, the possibility of an unintentional waiver of FDCPA's debt-validation rights, including suspension of collection of disputed debts under Section 1692g(b). Without the information about the in-writing
9
requirement, Plaintiffs were placed at a materially greater risk of falling victim to "abusive debt collection practices."
GC advances several arguments in response. First, GC argues that "the undisputed evidence forecloses any finding of standing because it is undisputed [GC] follows a policy of honoring verbal disputes of debts for obtaining debt verification and verbal requests for the name and address of the original creditor exactly as it does disputes or requests made in writing."
*759
(Appellant's Br. at 14-15 (citing Decl'n of Mark Schordock, Executive Vice President of GC's Operations, R. 25-1, PID 245-247).) However, when considering whether pleadings fail to make out a justiciable case for want of standing, our analysis must be confined to the four corners of the complaint.
Parsons v. U.S. Dep't of Justice
,
GC next argues that its failure to include the in-writing requirement never materialized into actual harm.
10
However, as explained, Plaintiffs may satisfy the concreteness prong of the injury-in-fact requirement of Article III standing by alleging that GC's purported FDCPA violations created a material risk of harm to a congressionally recognized interest. The FDCPA's requirement that debt collectors "not use any false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt" is a core object of the FDCPA, which aims to "eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors."
GC next invokes
Clapper v. Amnesty Int'l USA
,
In Clapper , the plaintiffs sought to establish standing on the basis of harm they would supposedly suffer from threatened conduct that had not happened yet but which they believed was reasonably likely to occur-specifically on their belief that "some of the people with whom they exchange[d] ... information [were] likely targets of surveillance" under a federal statute. Id. at 1145 (emphasis added). The plaintiffs sought to strike down the statute authorizing such surveillance in order to remove the threat that their communications would eventually be intercepted. Id. at 1145-46. The question for the Court was how certain such predicted surveillance needed to be in order to create an injury in fact. In such a case, the Supreme Court explained that a plaintiff cannot show injury-in-fact unless the "threatened injury [is] certainly impending " as opposed to merely speculative. Id. at 1147-48 (emphasis added) (internal quotation marks omitted).
***
Clapper 's discussion of what must be shown to establish standing based on anticipated conduct or an anticipated injury is therefore beside the point. Clapper did not address the concreteness of intangible injuries like the one [Plaintiff] asserts, and the Court in [ Spokeo ] did not suggest that Congress's ability to recognize such injuries turns on whether they would also result in additional future injuries that would satisfy Clapper . Many previous Supreme Court cases recognize that such statutorily recognized harms alone may confer standing (without additional resulting harm), none of which the Court purported to doubt or to overrule in [ Spokeo ].
Spokeo II
,
GC next relies on
Lyshe
in arguing that we have already "applied
Spokeo
to a claim under the FDCPA and found no standing where, as here, the plaintiff did not sustain a concrete injury." (Appellant's Br. at 11.) In
Lyshe
, the alleged FDCPA violation arose when the defendants, in the course of attempting to collect the plaintiff's debt in state court, "made misstatements in their discovery requests about state procedural rules."
Nor is
Hagy v. Demers & Adams
,
Finally, GC argues that "[t]he district court incorrectly found standing based on potential harm to class members instead of" to the two named Plaintiffs. (Appellant's Br. at 15-17.) GC is correct that potential class representatives must demonstrate "individual standing vis-a-vis the defendant; [they] cannot acquire such standing merely by virtue of bringing a class action."
Fallick v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co.
,
In sum, Plaintiffs have satisfied the concreteness prong of the injury-in-fact requirement of Article III standing by alleging that GC's purported FDCPA violations created a material risk of harm to the interests recognized by Congress in enacting the FDCPA.
III. CLASS CERTIFICATION
A. Standard of Review
We "review the district court's decision to grant or deny class certification under an abuse-of-discretion standard."
Rikos v. Procter & Gamble Co.
,
B. Applicable Law
To merit certification, a putative class must satisfy the four requirements of Rule 23(a) :
(1) numerosity (a class [so large] that joinder of all members is impracticable); (2) commonality (questions of law or fact common to the class); (3) typicality (named parties' claims or defenses are typical ... of the class); and (4) adequacy of representation (representatives will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class).
Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor
,
C. Analysis
GC's opposition to certification rests primarily on its contention that Plaintiffs lack standing. Thus, having rejected GC's standing argument, we reject GC's class certification challenge as well.
GC argues that "there is no commonality as [Plaintiffs] have failed in their burden to demonstrate any injury at all." (Appellant's Br. at 18-19, 21.) 11 The district court found that Plaintiffs satisfied the commonality requirement because, as Plaintiffs alleged,
"[e]ach class member ... has the same claim against" [GC]: that the company violated the FDCPA by failing to include the in-writing requirement in the debt-collection letters it sent to them[, and the] [r]esolution of this "common contention ... will resolve an issue that is central to the validity of each one of the claims in one stroke." [ Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. ] Dukes , 564 U.S. [338,] 350 [131 S.Ct. 2541 ,180 L.Ed.2d 374 [ (2011) ].
Macy v. GC Servs. Ltd. P'ship
,
The same is true of GC's argument regarding adequacy, (Appellant's Br. at 21 ("The record does not support the district court's implied finding that [Plaintiffs] have a common interest with the members of the class because neither [Plaintiff] alleged an injury in fact.") ), and typicality, ( id. at 18 ("Here, there is clearly no typicality. As already shown, [Plaintiffs] have not alleged they sustained any injury as a result of the wording of the letters.") ). GC's argument regarding predominance is also a derivative of its standing argument. ( Id. at 22-23 ("[E]ach individual would have to prove he or she contacted [GC] by a non-written means to dispute his or her debt or request the name and address of his or her original creditor to prove he or she suffered the requisite 'concrete and particularized' injury. There is no evidence all of the class members sustained a concrete injury.").)
Thus, because GC failed to demonstrate that the district court abused its discretion, we will not disturb the district court's grant of class certification.
*763 IV. CONCLUSION
We AFFIRM the district court's grant of class certification and hold that Plaintiffs have Article III standing.
Spokeo
involved alleged violations of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA),
Spokeo
noted that "[i]n determining whether an intangible harm constitutes injury in fact, both history and the judgment of Congress play important roles."
The leading treatise observes "[t]he persisting obscurity of doctrine in this area," and notes that Spokeo "does little to relieve the uncertainty surrounding the Article III theories that limit Congressional authority to create a new legal right, invasion of which supports standing." 13B Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Edward H. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3531.13 (3d ed. 2017).
Specifically, GC argues that Plaintiffs "clearly allege no more than an observed procedural violation of the FDCPA, [and] it is abundantly clear that a 'bare procedural violation, divorced from any concrete harm' does not satisfy the concrete injury requirement of Article III of the United States Constitution." (Appellant's Br. at 11 (quoting
Spokeo
,
Other circuits have suggested similar interpretations of
Spokeo
.
See, e.g.
,
Dreher v. Experian Info. Sols., Inc.
,
This notice must be either contained in the "initial communication with a consumer" or provided within five days of such communication. 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a). It is undisputed that GC did not inform Plaintiffs that they must dispute their debt in writing. GC, however, does not concede that the omission of the in-writing requirement constitutes a violation of the FDCPA, and we express no opinion on that issue.
If consumers contest a debt orally, they may still dispute the debt, 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a)(3), but they do not invoke their rights under Sections 1692g(a)(4), (a)(5), and (b), at issue here.
The FDCPA is a strict liability statute that is liberally construed in favor of the consumer and courts evaluate FDCPA claims under the "least sophisticated consumer" standard.
Stratton v. Portfolio Recovery Assocs., LLC
,
Congress distinguished between FDCPA protections that may be triggered orally (such as those in Section 1692g(a)(3) ), and those that may only be invoked in writing (such as the ones in Sections 1692g(a)(4), (a)(5), and (b) ).
Specifically, GC argues that Plaintiffs "do not show, or even argue, the challenged letters led them to waive any right(s) under the FDCPA, or caused them any confusion or inconvenience. [Plaintiffs do not] allege they wished to dispute their debt or that they wished to request [that GC] provide the name and address of the original creditor. Indeed, the identity of the original creditor is not even relevant as [Plaintiffs] allege the original creditor is Synchrony Bank, who engaged [GC]." (Appellant's Br. at 14.)
Specifically, GC contends that "because "neither [Plaintiff] presented any allegation or evidence that either sustained the same risk; neither alleged either disputed the debt, sought to verify the debt, or sought the name and address of the original creditor. In fact, there was no actual risk to either because it is undisputed they made no effort to contact [GC]." (Appellant's Br. at 18-19.)
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Wilbur MACY; Pamela J. Stowe, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. GC SERVICES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, Defendant-Appellant.
- Cited By
- 82 cases
- Status
- Published