Woman Files Midland Robocall Lawsuit Over Alleged Harassing Phone Calls

A woman has filed a Midland robocall lawsuit after she received automated calls from multiple phone numbers.

Midland Credit Management, Inc. and Midland Funding, LLC are debt collecting companies that purportedly were hired to collect a debt. Plaintiff Patsy F. alleges she received harassing debt collection calls to her cell phone from at least five different telephone numbers by the company.

Midland purportedly repeatedly called her cell phone in an attempt to collect a debt and to intentionally annoy, abuse and harass her in the process.

The Midland robocall lawsuit claims Patsy does not owe the alleged debt to Midland. Moreover, according to the Midland robocall lawsuit, the companies allegedly used an automatic telephone dialing system to make the calls without Patsy’s express consent, a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act

In 1991, the TCPA was enacted to protect consumers from receiving unwanted telemarketing phone calls and faxes. The TCPA was particularly created to prevent automated phone dialing systems from churning out unsolicited telephone calls and messages.

According to Midland’s website under the heading of “Collection Practices,” the company states, “We commit to collect from consumers in a fair and transparent manner.”

The verbiage goes on to say they train collection representatives, but the Collection Practices overview offers no mention of the use of automated phone dialer services. The only mention of phone call protocol is that “To protect the privacy of the consumer, we do not systematically leave unsolicited messages on a consumer’s voice mail.”

Midland is accused of abusing the TCPA, acting “unfairly, unlawfully, intentionally, deceptively and fraudulently” with no legal excuse, according to the Midland robocall lawsuit, which is seeking statutory, actual and treble damages.

Midland Robocall Lawsuit Alleges FDCPA Violations

In addition to violating TCPA, the Midland robocall lawsuit alleges the companies committed FDCPA violations.

Midland allegedly violated the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in a number of ways: by communicating with additional people other than Patsy regarding the debt on more than one occasion; engaging in conduct that resulted in harassing her over the debt; falsely representing the amount, character or legal status of the debt; using false or deceptive maneuvers to collect the debt or to obtain information; and using unfair means to collect the debt.

The Midland robocall lawsuit says the FDCPA violations “were done with malicious, intentional, willful, reckless, wanton and negligent disregard” for Patsy’s lawful rights and done in an effort to coerce her into paying the alleged debt.

According to the company’s website, Midland Funding owns the debt obligations and Midland Credit Management collects and services the accounts. Encore Capital Group Inc. is the parent company.

The Midland Robocall Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-01844-MMB in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

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If you were contacted on your cell phone by a company via an unsolicited text message (text spam) or prerecorded voice message (robocall), you may be eligible for compensation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

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