In Reyes v. Steeg Law, LLC, 2019 WL 258068, (5th Cir. Jan. 17, 2019), the Fifth Circuit considered whether a law firm was a debt collector under the FDCPA. Under the FDCPA, attorneys qualify as debt collectors when they regularly engage in consumer debt collection, including but not limited to litigation on behalf of
The least sophisticated consumer doesn’t need everything spelled out for him. Or at least that’s what the Eleventh Circuit held recently in Conde v. Webcollex, LLC, No. 18-12551 — another case where a court finds that something means exactly what it says.
The plaintiff in Conde filed suit after he got a validation letter
Few things under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) are subject to as much uncertainty as the definition of “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS). This year’s decision in ACA Int’l v. FCC, 885 F.3d 687 (D.C. Cir. 2018) seems to have raised more questions than it answered as courts and the FCC continue to
The prospect of attorneys’ fees is often a major factor in strategy and, in particular, settlement. Defendants sometimes pay more up front just to avoid “running up” plaintiff’s counsel’s fees. On the flip side, some plaintiff’s counsel may continue to work a low-value case rather than settling, knowing that they may be awarded all of
