I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2014

To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act with regard to liability

for noncompliance, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 25, 2001

Mr. ANDREWS (for himself and Mrs. KELLY) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

A BILL

To amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act with regard

to liability for noncompliance, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Debt Collection

5 Practices Improvement Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. COLLECTION ACTIVITY FOLLOWING INITIAL NO7 TICE.

8 Section 809 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

9 (15 U.S.C. 1692(g)) is amended by adding at the end the

10 following new subsection:
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1 ‘‘(d) CONTINUATION DURING PERIOD.—Collection

2 activities and communications may continue during the

3 30-day period described in subsection (a) unless the con4 sumer requests the cessation of such activities.’’.

5 SEC. 3. LIABILITY FOR NONCOMPLIANCE.

6 (a) CLARIFICATION OF LIMITATION ON CLASS AC7 TION AWARDS.—Section 813(a)(2)(B) of the Fair Debt

8 Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692k(a)(2)(B)) is

9 amended—

10 (1) by inserting ‘‘or any series of class actions

11 arising out of the same violations by the same debt

12 collector’’ after ‘‘case of a class action’’; and

13 (2) by inserting ‘‘of such class action or series

14 of class actions’’ after ‘‘all other class members’’.

15 (b) ATTORNEYS FEES TO ENFORCE CIVIL LIABIL16 ITY.—Paragraph (3) of section 813(a) of the Fair Debt

17 Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692k(a)) is amended

18 to read as follows:

19 ‘‘(3) subject to subsection (f), in the case of a

20 successful action to enforce a liability under para21 graph (1) or (2), the costs of the action, including

22 reasonable attorney’s fees, as determined by the

23 court, in an amount not to exceed the amount

24 awarded in such action under the applicable para25 graph.’’.
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1 (c) RULES APPLICABLE TO CERTAIN ACTIONS.—Sec2 tion 813 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15

3 U.S.C. 1692k) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing new subsection:

5 ‘‘(f) RULES APPLICABLE TO ACTIONS UNDER THIS

6 TITLE.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in

7 any action arising under this title, for purposes of Rule

8 68 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the following

9 provisions shall apply:

10 ‘‘(1) PLAINTIFF’S ATTORNEY’S FEES.—Costs

11 shall include reasonable fees for the plaintiff’s attor12 ney.

13 ‘‘(2) DISALLOWANCE OF CERTAIN FEES ACCRU14 ING AFTER REFUSAL OF SETTLEMENT OFFER.—In

15 accordance with Rule 68 of the Federal Rules of

16 Civil Procedure, if—

17 ‘‘(A) an offer is made by the debt collector

18 to a consumer bringing an action (including any

19 class action or series of class actions referred to

20 in subsection (a)(2)(B)) under this title, and

21 the offer is not accepted; and

22 ‘‘(B) the amount of the final judgment

23 awarded to the consumer (or, in the case of a

24 class action or series of class actions, the total

25 amount awarded to all class members in such
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1 class action or series of class actions) is less

2 than or equal to the amount of the offer re3 ferred to in subparagraph (A),

4 the consumer (or the class with regard to a class ac5 tion or series of class actions) may not be awarded

6 or otherwise recover costs for attorney’s fees in7 curred after the date such offer is rejected.’’.

8 (d) FACTORS FOR CONSIDERATION.—Section 813(b)

9 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C.

10 1692k(b)) is amended—

11 (1) in the portion of such subsection which pre12 cedes paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘liability in any ac13 tion’’ and inserting ‘‘any award’’; and

14 (2) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the

15 following new paragraph:

16 ‘‘(1) in any action under subsection (a)(2)(A), the

17 frequency and persistence of noncompliance by the debt

18 collector, the nature of such noncompliance, the extent to

19 which the such noncompliance was intentional, and the

20 amount of actual damages awarded; or’’.

21 (e) BONA FIDE ERRORS.—Section 813(c) of the Fair

22 Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692k(c)) is

23 amended—

24 (1) by striking ‘‘(c) A debt collector may not’’

25 and inserting ‘‘(c) BONA FIDE ERRORS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A debt collector may not’’;

2 and

3 (2) by adding at the end the following new

4 paragraph:

5 ‘‘(2) RELIANCE ON RULES OF CIVIL PROCE6 DURE.—A debt collector may not be held liable in

7 any action brought under this title if the debt col8 lector shows by a preponderance of the evidence that

9 the violation resulted from good faith compliance

10 with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; in the

11 case of a proceeding in a State court, the rules of

12 civil procedure available under the laws of such

13 State; or a nonjudicial foreclosure proceeding.’’.

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