Appeals Court Sides with Debt Collector in Old FDCPA Case; Too Old, in Fact

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit last week upheld a lower court’s dismissal of a case in which a consumer sued a debt collection agency for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Equifax for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and BellSouth for violating Louisiana state law.

Emily Wagner originally filed suit in 2007 against BellSouth Telecommunications Inc., Franklin Collection Service Inc., and Equifax Credit Information Services Inc., alleging that BellSouth billed her for unauthorized services. When Wagner did not pay the bills, BellSouth referred the accounts to Franklin, which tried to collect the debt and reported the accounts to Equifax, which reported the accounts as adverse notations.

But a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana tossed out the claims against Franklin and BellSouth, noting that the statute of limitations had passed for bringing suit. And the judge ruled that the claim against Equifax was invalid because Wagner failed to show actual damages.

The appellate panel agreed with the district judge and affirmed the rulings.

The interesting language in the appellate decision pertains to the FCRA claims against the credit reporting agency. Wagner, in the absence of being able to prove actual damages, also sued for emotional distress.

“Wagner has presented no evidence of injury beyond her own conclusory assertions about emotional distress, which are insufficient to support an emotional damages award,” wrote the judges. They referenced a previous case that held that “FCRA plaintiff’s assertions that he was ‘[v]ery upset,’ ‘angry,’ and ‘felt like being trapped’ were insufficient for emotional damages award.”