United States Ninth Circuit

Communications directed only to a debtor's attorney, and unaccompanied by any threat to contact the debtor, are not actionable under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Also, the Act requires a debt collector who receives notice that a consumer disputes an alleged debt to cease collection efforts until it provides the consumer with verification of the debt. The Act does not impose an independent obligation to verify a debt where the collector ceases all collection efforts directed at the consumer.

Appellate Information

• Argued 11/15/2006
• Decided 08/23/2007
• Published 08/23/2007

Judges

• Before:  STEPHEN S. TROTT, KIM McLANE WARDLAW, and W. FLETCHER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Daniel P. Shapiro, Goldberg, Kohn, Bell, Black, Rosenbloom & Moritz, Ltd., Chicago, IL, Amicus Curiae for the National Association of Retail Collection Attorneys and the Debt Buyers' Association, Inc.


• For Appellees:
  
• John Harris Paer, Honolulu, HI, for the plaintiff-appellee., David J. Minkin, McCorriston, Miller, Mukai, & MacKinnon, LLP, Honolulu, HI, for the defendant-appellant.