United States Seventh Circuit

In a consolidation of four suits under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, one decision is affirmed and the remaining three reversed and remanded where: 1) any written notice sent to a consumer's lawyer must contain the information that would be required by the Act if the notice were sent to the consumer directly; 2) a representation by a debt collector that would be unlikely to deceive a competent lawyer, even if he is not a specialist in consumer debt law, should not be actionable; 3) a misrepresentation is actionable whether made to the consumer directly, or indirectly through his lawyer; 4) a settlement offer contained in a letter from the debt collector to a consumer is not lawful per se; 5) debt collectors may include safe harbor language crafted by the court in order to avoid liability for settlement offers; 6) consumer survey evidence is appropriate to determine whether, in the absence of the safe harbor language, a sufficiently large segment of unsophisticated consumers are likely to be deceived by a settlement offer; 7) settlement offers directed to a consumer's lawyer are not actionable; and 8) a determination that a representation is or is not false, deceptive, or misleading under section 1692 of the Act is not always to be treated as a matter of law, and may be dismissed on the pleadings under certain circumstances.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/23/2007
• Published 10/23/2007

Judges

• POSNER, Circuit Judge., Before CUDAHY, POSNER, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• David J. Philipps (argued), Philipps & Philipps, Palos Hills, IL, for Tammy A. Evory, Angela T. Hubbard, Christian M. Cline, Kevin I. Captain, Phillip Jackson, Sharon Ackman, Daniece Bonner, Plaintiffs-Appellants., David J. Philipps (argued), Derek B. Rieman, Edelman, Combs & Latturner, Chicago, IL, for Kevin L. Headen, Plaintiff-Appellant., David J. Philipps (argued), Daniel A. Edelman, Edelman, Combs, Latturner, Chicago, IL, for Noah Downs, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellant., Christopher V. Langone, Mark T. Lavery (argued), Chicago, IL, for Kelly Lauer, Karla Lauer, Plaintiffs-Appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Chip G. Schoneberger (argued), Clausen Miller, Chicago, IL, for Mason, Silver, Wenk & Mishkin, LLC, Timothy E. Hirsch, Defendants-Appellees., David L. Hartsell (argued), McGuire Woods, Chicago, IL, for ARS National Services, Inc., Defendant-Appellee., Christine Olson-McTigue, David M. Schultz (argued), Hinshaw & Culbertson, Chicago, IL, Tomio Narita, Simmonds & Narita, San Francisco, CA, for Midland Credit Management, Inc., Midland Funding NCC-2, Corp., Defendants-Appellees., David Schultz (argued), Amy R. Jonker, Messer & Stilp, Chicago, IL, for RJM Acquisitions Funding, L.L.C., Defendant-Appellee., Christine Olson McTigue, David M. Schultz (argued), Hinshaw & Culbertson, Chicago, IL, for Midland Credit Management, Inc., MRC Receivables Corp., Asset Acceptance, LLC, National Action Financial Services, Inc., Defendants-Appellees., David Schultz (argued), David L. Hartsell, McGuire Woods, Chicago, IL, for M.R.S. Assoc., Inc., Defendant-Appellee.