Andrew D. Dunavant, Jr., and Mary Dunavant (the Dunavants) appealed the district court's partial denial of their motion for summary judgment and its grant of the defendant's motion for summary judgment. Dunavant v. Sirote & Permutt, P.C., 2015 WL 525536, 1 (11th Cir. Feb. 9, 2015) (per curiam). The Dunavants allege that the defendant, Sirote & Permutt, P.C. (Sirote), unlawfully published two notices of foreclosure sale for the Dunavants' property after a state court enjoined the foreclosure action. Id. On appeal, the Dunavants first argue that the district court incorrectly ...
Imagine your company or client was sued for an alleged violation of the Florida Consumer Collections Practices Act ("FCCPA"). The plaintiff has an outstanding debt that is greater than the damages sought in the FCCPA action. Consequently, you want to know if you can counterclaim to setoff (or "offset") the damages sought in the FCCPA lawsuit from the underlying debt. Though the Eleventh Circuit does not provide steadfast answers, it sheds some light on the topic, albeit in a bankruptcy context. In Brook v. Chase Bank USA, N.A., 566 F. App'x 787 (11th Cir. 2014), the Eleventh Circuit ...
In Crawford v. LVNV Funding, LLC, the Eleventh Circuit became the first federal circuit court of appeals to hold that filing a proof of claim on a time-barred debt in a bankruptcy case violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ("FDCPA").[1] See No. 13-12389,__ F.3d __, 2014 WL 3361226 (11th Cir. July 10, 2014). The case arose when LVNV filed a proof of claim in Crawford's bankruptcy case on a debt for which the statute of limitations had expired. In response, Crawford filed an adversary proceeding against LVNV, alleging that LVNV routinely filed proofs of claim on time-barred debts ...