“Running Into Debt Isn’t So Bad. It’s Running Into Creditors That Hurts.” — Unknown.

Plaintiff said that over a two-year period, he paid off his Dell computer, which he had financed. Dell’s records showed otherwise and, along with 85,000 other Dell financial debts, sold plaintiff’s debt to a debt collection company. Plaintiff brought a class action pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1692 [Fair Debt Collection Practices Act], alleging the debt collectors made false representations. As to one defendant, plaintiff contends the firm “misleadingly represented that its collection letter was from an attorney when, on [plaintiff’s] account of the facts, no attorney had been ‘meaningfully involved’ in evaluating his case.” The federal district court granted summary judgment to the defendants, and the Ninth Circuit, not only reversed, but ordered that judgment should be entered in favor of plaintiff as to one of the defendants. (Tourgeman v. Collins Financial Services, Inc. (Ninth Cir.; June 25, 2014) 755 F.3d 1109.)