Grden v. Leikin Ingber & Winters PC
- Citation:
- ___F3d. ___(6th Cir. 2011); Case No. 10-1182 (June 27, 2011)
- Tag(s):
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- Ruling:
- The Sixth Circuit reversed in part and affirmed in part the district court’s granting of summary judgment in favor of the Defendant Leikin Ingber & Winters PC ("Leiken") that it had not violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ("FDCPA") (15 U.S.C. § 1692) and remanded the matter for further proceedings. The Sixth Circuit found (i) that district court erred in granting summary judgment as to whether Leiken violated the FDCPA by the serving of a putative motion for default judgment despite the fact that the time period for Grden to respond had not yet passed because reasonable jury could find that the motion was misleading when determined from the perspective of the least-sophisticated consumer applicable standard but (ii) that the district court did not err in granting summary judgment as to whether Leiken violated the FDCPA by mistakenly providing incorrect balance information to Grden, for which he called and requested, as a reasonable jury could not find that animating purpose of the incorrect statement was to induce payment by Grden.
- Procedural context:
- Grden sued Leikin in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan alleging that Leikin had violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by making false statements about Grden’s outstanding balance and by serving Grden with a motion for default judgment at the same time it served him with a collection complaint in a previous Michigan state court suit. District Court granted summary judgment in favor of Leiken and Grden appealed.
- Facts:
- Grden previously recieved medical treatment at Oakwood Healthcare and failed to pay for those services. The debt was turned over to a collection agency which hired Leiken to collect the debt. Leiken filed suit in Michigan court for the outstanding amount and attached to the complaint a a document entitled “Combined Affidavit of Open Account and Motion for Default Judgment”. Leiken served Grden with the collection complaint and the motion. Subsequently, Grden called Leiken to verify his balance and was provided an incorrect amount and thereafter received a letter and ledger card from Leiken that reiterated the incorrect amount. Grden filed suit in federal court alleging violations of the FDCPA.
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