Hunton & Williams Obtains Eleventh Circuit Affirmance of Dismissal of FDCPA Class Action Claims

MIAMI — July 31, 2014 — The Eleventh Circuit recently affirmed the dismissal of a putative class action alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) against law firm McCalla Raymer LLC. McCalla Raymer was represented by Barry Davidson and Jamie Zysk Isani of Hunton & Williams LLP in Miami.

Plaintiff Xilena Caceres filed a class action complaint against McCalla Raymer in the Southern District of Florida, alleging that the notice provided to her in connection with a foreclosure action incorrectly stated that if she did not dispute the validity of the debt within 30 days, the debt would be assumed valid by the creditor (her mortgage lender), rather than by the debt collector (McCalla Raymer, the lender’s law firm), as required by the FDCPA. She sought to represent a nationwide class of persons to whom similar letters were sent.

The district court granted McCalla Raymer’s motion to dismiss. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal in a unanimous, published decision authored by Judge Lanier Anderson and joined by Judge Stanley Marcus and U.S. Court of International Trade Judge Richard Goldberg. The court held that the letter was an initial communication under the FDCPA but that the letter was not false, deceptive or misleading because “the debt collector is obviously the agent of the creditor,” such that “the least sophisticated consumer would think that if the debt collector was entitled to assume that the debt is valid, the creditor would have the same right.” Thus, the court concluded, “because the same implication arises whether or not the language of the notice is ‘assumed valid by the debt collector,’ as required by statute, or ‘assumed valid by the creditor,’ as stated in the letter, the letter did not mislead.”