Hunstein II: 11th Circuit Doubles Down On Dubious Conclusion That Mail Vendor Usage Violates FDCPA

In a surprise to many, an arguably rogue panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has now reaffirmed its earlier decision from Hunstein v. Preferred Collection, 994 F.3d 1341, holding that (1) a plaintiff has Article III standing to sue a debt collector for violating federal debt collection law by merely disclosing personal information to the mail vendor employed to send debt collection communications, and (2) on the merits, the plaintiff sufficiently pleaded a claim for unauthorized third-party disclosure because mail vendors are third “persons” who were sent communications concerning a consumer's debt. Given the prior ruling, then, why are we surprised? We explain below.