Opinion ID: 2997148
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Third-party Collection Letters

Text: Finally, plaintiffs point to the collection letters sent to them by the third-party debt collector, CPA. They again allege that it was Corporate Broadband who actually designed, compiled, and furnished the letters because they refer to “AT&T Broadband” as the plaintiffs’ cable service provider and creditor and provide a Denver, Colorado address. According to the copies of the letters in the record, Rydel received two collection letters from CPA. Only the second No. 03-3484 17 refers to “AT&T Broadband” as his creditor—the other refers to “AT&T Cable Services.” Despite the difference in payee, both request, in the detachable payment coupon appearing at the bottom of the letter, that payment be sent to the same address—though not the Denver, Colorado post office box appearing on the payment coupon attached to the bills. The CPA letters request payment be sent to a Chicago, Illinois street address. Oddly enough, the one letter sent by CPA to Gutierrez refers to “AT&T Broadband” in the body of the letter, but the payment coupon requests remittance to “AT&T” and directs payment be sent to “AT&T Cable Services” at the Denver, Colorado post office box appearing on her bills. As with the bills, the information contained in CPA’s letters—directing payment to “AT&T Cable Services” or “AT&T Broadband” at a local Chicago address in Rydel’s case or to “AT&T Cable Services” at the Denver, Colorado address in Gutierrez’s case—does not remotely imply that Corporate Broadband designed, compiled, and furnished the letters or result in confusion that Corporate Broadband is actually attempting to collect the debt. Second, and more importantly, it is undisputed that CPA formulated the collection letters with the advice of its counsel and sent them to the plaintiffs. Though Corporate Broadband does admit that it reviewed some of the form letters sent by CPA (not necessarily the particular form letters sent to plaintiffs), simply reviewing such documents does not trigger liability under § 1692j. For all of the above reasons, the district court properly granted summary judgment in favor of Corporate Broadband.