OK, what is the answer? A CA that violates the FDCPA....

Hi there sky, I'm going to see an Attorney tomorrow, I'll be sure and ask him that question. I wonder if Frogpatch can answer this also.

thanks shaz--I really need to get this one answered. The attorney told me that based on the specific wording of the law, anyone who violates the law is subject to a penalty of up to $1000 in statutory damages. He is claiming that this means that no matter how many times or ways they violate it, that it is only 1 penalty.

Well, I hope your Attorney is mistaken, it would hardly be worth any Attorney's effort to work on a contingency basis unless a person had a whole cart load of debt collectors after them. :?

actually one of them is $1000 total and one is $1000 per violation....there is FCRA and fdcpa, I just can't recall which is which.

I recall seeing a case where someone sued LVNV Funding and had about 15 fdcpa violations and only claimed $1,000. Under the FCRA there where 6 violations and he claimed $6,000.

It is $1,000 total for fdcpa, and $1,000 per violation for FCRA. However that is the limit for statutory damages, punitive damages however are a different story.

How do you even come up with punitive damages? I just scratch my head on that one. What is reasonable? How would you even calculate something like that?

It's not easy to convince a judge about the "punitive" damages.

Several years ago I loaned my boss $2000 and he would not pay it back. When I finally sued him, I sued him for $2000 + 2 days of lost wages (I had to take off work to sue him).

{Interestingly, Judge Joe Brown and Judge Hatchett TV producers both sent me letters wanting us to go be on their show - they were ready to fly me and my boss out to California. But my boss didn't want to look like an idiot on TV so he refused.}

Anyway, when it came before the judge, he asked me what this "extra" is, and I explained that I was losing even more money by having to take time off work to sue my boss, and he should pay for that. The judge just laughed a little and said "sorry, it doesn't work like that", and he only gave me a $2000 judgment.

Punitive damages can be actual costs incurred by you such as attorney fees etc. It could also include pain and suffering and/or mental anguish if applicable. Such as the woman who won $147,000 against a collection agency who threatened to take her kids from her "since she was such a deadbeat mother" she received $1,000 in statutory damages for the fdcpa violation but since the judge believed that she believed the CA's lie the judge awarded their punitive damages. It really comes down to the judges decision. You can request whatever you like in punitive damages, they judge may approve it for the full amount, reduce the amount, or deny punitive damages altogether.

Quote:

$1,000.00 per lawsuit.

My attorney is a 1st class act when it comes to Consumer Law.

The CA, UNIFUND, had to pay me the thousand, plus pay my attorney his MANY thousands in fees. ;)

Yes it has been established that FCRA violations are $1000 PER violation and FDCPA is $1000 total, no matter how many times they violate.

Then why use not use FCRA every time?

They have to violate it first. Many will violate the FDCPA and not the FCRA.

$1,000 is the amount of "statutory" damages under the FDCPA. A plaintiff can also get "actual" damages, in whatever amount he/she can prove.