Seventh Circuit Holds That Debt Collector Cannot Avoid Liability Under FDCPA Despite Strict Compliance With Controlling Precedent

In a surprising decision involving a vigorous and scathing dissent, the Seventh Circuit ruled that a debt collector was liable under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act even when it followed the law that was in effect at the time the alleged violation took place.  This alarming ruling raises an obvious question:  Is compliance with the FDCPA becoming an impossible task?

Plaintiff Ronald Oliva had a credit card account on which he became delinquent, and the account was eventually sold to another entity.  In 2013, the law firm of Blatt, Hasenmiller, Leibsker & Moore ("Blatt Hasenmiller") filed a collection suit in a specific judicial district of the state court on behalf of the debt buyer.  At the time, Oliva did not reside in the district where suit was filed but, under the Seventh Circuit's 1996 decision in Newsom v. Friedman, 76 F.3d 813 (7th Cir. 1996), venue there was permissible.  While the collection suit was pending, the Seventh Circuit overruled Newsom in