On January 21, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District
of Pennsylvania struck a class action under the Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692 et seq.
("FDCPA") and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of
1991, 47 U.S.C. §§ 227 et seq.
("TCPA"). Although the judge allowed the lead
plaintiff to pursue her individual claims under these statutes, the
judge ultimately concluded that her proposed class was
impermissibly "fail-safe."
The plaintiff allegedly was a college student who periodically
rented course books from her college. Although she maintained
that she had no debt, she claimed that she received eleven phone
calls from the defendant over a six-month period in violation of
the TCPA. When she finally returned the calls, the operator
informed her that the debt concerned two rented books she had not
returned. According to the plaintiff, the operator violated
the FDCA by failing to inform her about the supposed debt, and the
defendant
