Rose Markakos v. Medicredit Inc.
- Case Type:
- Consumer
- Case Status:
- Affirmed
- Citation:
- 20-2351 (7th Circuit, May 14,2021) Published
- Tag(s):
-
- Ruling:
- In a non-bankruptcy opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (Circuit) affirmed the dismissal of a complaint for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) for lack of standing, as plaintiff could point to no injury-in-fact, only confusion and annoyance from MC’s use of wrong information and omission of required data. All three judges agreed that circuit precedent thusly required. But two attacked this case law for unjustly expanding Spokeo in a manner contrary to other circuits’ approaches and the history and reality of Congress’ substantive regulation.
- Procedural context:
- Sued for violations of the FDCPA by Rose Markakos (Markakos), Medicredit Inc. (MC) moved to dismiss Markakos’ complaint for lack of standing and failure to state a claim in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (DC). The DC granted the motion as to standing, as Markakos did not allege that the deficient information contained in MC’s missives harmed her in any way, having properly disputed her debt and refusing to overpay. It dismissed Markakos’ case, however, without prejudice.
- Facts:
- It all boiled down to one missive. In 2019, MC sent a letter seeking to collect $1,830.56 on behalf of a creditor identified only as “Northwest Community 2NDS” for medical services performed in 2017 to Markakos. Within weeks, Markakos’ counsel retorted with his own letter disputing the debt due to the inadequacy of the services provided. In response, Markakos sent a new letter, this time stating the amount owed as only $407.00. Thereafter, Markakos sued MC for violating the FDCPA in two ways: (1) sending letters with inconsistent debt amounts, and (2) doing so on behalf of a purported creditor whose stated name matched none organized under Illinois law.
- Judge(s):
- Kenneth F. Ripple; Michael S. Kanne; and Ilana K. D. Rovner
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