Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Kara Ross v. Financial Asset Management Systems

Case No.: 22-1272

Officials: Rovner, St. Eve, and Kirsch, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

Camarena, who had defaulted on a debt and later married Ross, shared a phone plan with her. FAMS, a debt collector, sent a letter to Camarena, but she never followed its instructions. Instead, Camarena discovered the email format of FAMS’s employees and sent disputing emails to the CEO and Vice President. However, the CEO claimed no recollection of seeing Camarena’s email, while the VP found it in his deleted folder but couldn’t remember if he had seen it. If Camarena had properly submitted her dispute, FAMS could have adhered to its policy of halting collection activities until the debt was verified. FAMS contacted Ross regarding Camarena’s debt, despite Ross informing them that they had reached her personal cell phone, not the appropriate number for Camarena. The FAMS collector failed to follow protocols to prevent future calls to Ross, despite being trained to do so. As a result, FAMS continued to call Ross.

Ross filed a lawsuit against FAMS, alleging that these calls violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, specifically by continuing debt collection efforts after Camarena disputed the debt without providing verification, calling Ross after the dispute, calling Ross after she informed FAMS that Camarena didn’t use her phone, and abruptly ending calls with Ross. The Seventh Circuit upheld the summary judgment in favor of FAMS based on the “bona fide error” defense. Although FAMS had policies and procedures in place to prevent such calls to Ross, an error was considered unavoidable in this case.

Affirmed.

Decided 07/14/23

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