I think it sucks that the consumer is left to be the first line of FDCPA enforcement, but it does my heart good when I see some of the most egregious offenders being spanked where it hurts (i.e. in the wallet). $311,000 awarded to consumer for FDCPA violations: Montana Jury Awards $311,000 For FDCPA Violation : Debt Law Network (and again here: Man successfully sues debt collectors - KJCT8.com - Grand Junction, Montrose - Weather, News, Sports |) $500,000 awarded to consumer for FDCPA violations: $500,000 Award for Violations of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act - Denise Richardson In researching some potential litigation, I found out that violating my state's consumer protection laws have a $2,000 "per violation" limit in addition to the federal FDCPA limit of $1,000 per action maximum. Oh yeah...
The $500K case (Case no: 5:07-cv-05658-JW Fausto et al v. Credigy Services Corporation et al) has over 400 documents filed! The case history is 45 pages long and lasted only a year and a half. They tried mediation several times and Credigy (the CA) objected to just about everything (including the verdict, of course). I guess when you have a half-million verdict looming, you throw everything you have at it. The interesting thing is that many of these battles are over debts of $1,000 or less. Talk about needing to learn how to choose your battles.
