Remembering everything that happened during the course of a year can be difficult. There are so many highs and lows that they often blend in with one another or fade into the background. To create a time capsule of 2021, I went back and identified the most popular article that was published on AccountsRecovery.net for each month of the year. The list acts as a roadmap for the year and illustrates what we celebrated and mourned in 2021.
January
Consumer Attorney Agrees to Disbarment For Not Communicating Settlement Offer to Client – January 19, 2021
A consumer attorney who failed to communicate settlement offers in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case has agreed to have his license to practice law revoked.
February
Debt Collection Fintech InDebted Completes Acquisition to Enter the U.S. Market & Announces Key Executive Hires – February 8, 2021
InDebted, the Sydney headquartered fintech that specializes in digital debt collection for unsecured consumer debt, today announced that it has acquired Delta Outsource Group Inc. (Delta) in the USA to launch its product and service into the American market, and hired three key executives to help globally scale InDebted.
March
Breaking Down Chopra’s Confirmation Hearing – March 3, 2021
If anything, the confirmation hearing held yesterday for Rohit Chopra to be the new director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau showed us more about the agendas of the members of the Senate Banking Committee and less about learning the priorities and vision that Chopra has for the agency, should he be confirmed. And would it have killed one of the members of the Senate Banking Committee to ask about the debt collection rule and what Chopra’s plans are for it? I mean, really.
April
Appeals Court Rules Sending Info to Letter Vendor Counts as Communication Under FDCPA – April 21, 2021
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court’s ruling that a debt collector did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act when it sent an individual’s personal information to a letter vendor to have a collection letter sent to that person. The Appeals Court ruled that transmitting that information constituted a violation of Section 1692c(b) of the FDCPA by communicating information about a debt with a third party and that such a violation is a concrete injury.
May
Hunstein-Related Class Actions Continue Piling Up – May 4, 2021
The number of 1692c(b) lawsuits alleging that a debt collector communicated information with a third party in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act continues to explode in the weeks following the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals’s ruling in Hunstein v. Preferred Collection and Management Services. There have been 42 cases filed across the country since the Hunstein ruling was announced on April 21, with 27 of them class-actions, according to data compiled by WebRecon. There was only one 1692c(b) class-action filed this year before the Hunstein ruling came out, according to WebRecon’s database.
June
Friends and Colleagues Share Memories of Robbie Malone – June 25, 2021
Anyone who had the good fortune of crossing paths with Robbie Malone has a great story to share. Larger than life in many ways, Robbie epitomized everything that is good about her home state of Texas. The accounts receivable management industry is a less-colorful place today because of her passing. To celebrate Robbie, AccountsRecovery.net reached out to many of those in the industry who knew her and asked them to share their thoughts or a story about Robbie.
July
Appeals Court Reverses Dismissal of FDCPA Suit Over Use of Barcode on Envelope – July 7, 2021
The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has reversed the dismissal of a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case, ruling that the disclosure of an individual’s Internal Reference Number — which included the first 10 characters of the individual’s street address — is sufficient for the individual to have suffered a concrete injury and have standing to sue in federal court.
August
Barbara Barron, Founder of Barron & Newburger, Passes Away – August 6, 2021
Manny Newburger, Barbara’s partner and friend for a number of years, penned a touching obituary after her passing in early August.
September
California Legislature Passes Debt Collection Assignment Notification Bill – September 2, 2021
The California legislature has approved SB 531, a measure that will require collectors to have proof they have authority to collect a debt prior to doing so, and gives consumers the right to request that proof and other basic information about the debt. The bill now heads to the desk of California Gov. Gavin Newsom for his signature or veto.
October
Eleventh Circuit Issues New Ruling, But With Same Conclusion, in Hunstein Case – October 28, 2021
The original panel from the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit that ruled in the Hunstein case issued a new opinion this morning, vacating its earlier decision, but still ending up in the same place that the plaintiff had standing to sue, even in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in TransUnion v. Ramirez and that the use of a third-party mail vendor constituted a communication under Section 1692c(b) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. While on the surface it appears as though the Eleventh Circuit doubled down on its original ruling, the new decision was not unanimous, and one of the three judges — Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat issued a dissenting opinion that the TransUnion ruling means that the plaintiff does not have standing to sue because he did not suffer a concrete injury.
November
Eleventh Circuit Announces En Banc Rehearing in Hunstein Case – November 17, 2021
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals announced today that the entire panel of judges will rehear arguments en banc in the Hunstein v. Preferred Management & Collections case, vacating the opinion that was issued last month, and giving the industry hope that the case may be reversed.
December
Judge Certifies Class in FDCPA Case – December 6, 2021
A District Court judge in Pennsylvania has certified a class in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case over a 1692e claim that the manner in which a series of debts were itemized in a collection letter was misleading, disagreeing with the defendant that there is no evidence that other members of the class were confused by the letters that they received.