Source: http://messerstrickler.com/blog/federal-judge-rules-one-voicemail-message-is-not-enough-to-sustain-fdcpa-violation
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 02:14:28+00:00

Document:
In Hagler v. Credit World Services, Inc., a federal judge in Kansas decided that a debt collection agency was not in violation of the FDCPA by failing to identify itself as a debt collector in one voicemail message. The judge explained that multiple calls must be made in order for “harassment” to occur.
“Hi, this message is for Charles. Please call Bill Jackson at 913-362-3950 when you get a chance.
•Used misleading and deceptive language, in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1692e.
Plaintiff also claimed that the voicemail message was otherwise deceptive and failed to comply with the provisions of the FDCPA. Plaintiff and Defendant filed cross-motions for summary judgment on all four claims.
The judge agreed with the collection agency on all four counts. The judge decided that the voicemail message did not provide a “meaningful” disclosure of the employee’s identity as a debt collector under § 1692d(6) as the employee only provided his name, which has no real meaning to the debtor. The judge explained further that the employee must provide more about himself than his name to be a “meaningful” disclosure. However, the judge ruled that a violation requires more than just one call.
Because the clear language of § 1692d(6) prohibits the placement of telephone “calls” without meaningful disclosure, the judge did not agree that this single voicemail message violated the FDCPA. He supported this finding by citing other district courts who also focused on the plural usage of “calls” in the statute. See Thorne v. Accounts Receivables Mgmt, Inc., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109165 (S.D. Fla. July 23, 2012); Jordan v. ER Solutions, Inc., 900 F. Supp. 2d 1323 (S.D. Fla. 2012); Sanford v. Portfolio Recovery Assocs., LLC, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103214 (E.D. Mich. May 30, 2013).
The judge also determined that the debt collector was not in violation of the FDCPA for failing to provide the “mini-Miranda” disclosure. The judge noted that “in order to ‘convey information regarding a debt,’ a message must ‘expressly reference debt’ or the recipient must be able to infer that the message involved a debt.” Since the employee did not mention the debt in the voicemail message, the judge did not consider it a debt collection communication under the FDCPA.
Finally, the judge disagreed that the message was misleading. The employee merely left his name, phone number, and requested Plaintiff call him back. The judge decided that nothing in the message was intended to mislead the Plaintiff.

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