Morgan, Bornstein & Morgan No Information on Interest FDCPA Class Action

This class action is brought against a debt collection company called Morgan and Morgan, PC, which does business as Morgan, Bronstein & Morgan, under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The complaint alleges that the company’s debt collection letter does not make clear whether interest is accruing on the judgment amount or whether it has been waived, so that the consumer cannot be certain of the full amount of the debt at any given time.

The FDCPA tries to protect consumers from unfair or abusive debt collection practices. It requires that consumer debtors be given certain information, so that they can make the best decisions possible about how to handle their debt.

The plaintiff in this case, Ester Lebovits, allegedly owed a debt that was incurred on transactions for personal, family, or household purposes. At some point, the creditor assigned the debt to Morgan for collection.

Morgan sent Lebovits a letter dated February 24, 2021. The complaint quotes the collection letter as saying, “Enclosed you will fimd a copy of the Judgment that has been entered against you.” The complaint states, “[u]pon information and belief,” that the amount of the judgment was $11,574.15.

What the letter does not state is whether interest is accruing on the judgment amount or whether the interest has been waived. The complaint alleges that, according to New Jersey law, unless the court orders or the law provides otherwise, the judgment amount would bear simple interest.

The letter also suggests Lebovits may “resolve this matter” with monthly payments of $300.

The complaint contends that, if simple interest is accruing, Lebovits has no way of knowing at any given time whether she has paid off the debt in full or whether she still owes money. To make it even more confusing, the complaint alleges that she has “received other correspondence from [Morgan] indicating that the judgment entered was in the amount of $11,820.63” which is a significantly different amount.

These confusions, the complaint alleges, “led [Lebovits] to believe the letter was fraudulent, or at least suspect, in whole or in part” so that she was “unable to properly respond to the letter.”

The class for this action is

• All individuals with addresses in New Jersey
• To whom Morgan sent a collection letter
• Trying to collect a consumer debt
• That has been reduced to judgment
• Without stating that interest is accruing on the judgment amount or that interest is waived
• Where the letter was sent between February 23, 2021 and March 16, 2022.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Insufficient Information, Misleading or Confusing Debt Collection Letter, Unlawful Debt Collection