Six Hunstein Class Action Lawsuits Dismissed for Lack of Standing

Supreme Court “Concrete Injury” Ruling Snuffs Out Class Viability

On July 23^rd, United States District Court, Judge Gary R. Brown dismissed six class action lawsuits filed on the grounds of the 11^th Circuit Hunstein v. Preferred Collection & Management Services FDCPA ruling from May. Of the over 100 lawsuits filed in the immediate aftermath of the initial ruling, New York State had more than several states combined.

Read The Ruling Here!

Citing a lack of standing and viability based upon the Supreme Court’s decision in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 141 S. Ct. 2190 (2021), decision, Brown stated that the Plaintiff’s failed to demonstrate the requisite “Concrete Injury” standard set forth in the June 25th Supreme Court ruling on TransUnion v. Ramirez.

Brown stated that the courts have not recognized “intra-company disclosures as actionable publications for purposes of the tort of defamation. Nor have they necessarily recognized disclosures to printing vendors as actionable publications.”

Judge Brown took issue with the risk of future harm being sufficient for standing and the amount of the debts in the lawsuits and whether “the possible non-payment of a relatively small invoice could constitute ‘a defamatory statement that would subject [plaintiffs] to hatred, contempt, or ridicule,’ particularly when such information is shared only with a mailing vendor.”

The six cases had alleged that collectors had violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by using third-party mail vendors for the printing and mailing of collection letters to the plaintiffs. These claims are near duplicates of the Hunstein v. Preferred Collection & Management Services lawsuit, in which the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that by the defendant’s use of a letter vendor, they had violated Section 1692c(b) of the FDCPA by communicating information about a debt with a third party.

In the three months since the Hunstein ruling hundreds of these lawsuits have been filed across the country. Preferred Collection & Management Services, the original defendant in the 11^th Circuit Hunstein judgement, is still seeking an en banc rehearing on the matter.