Judge Certifies Class In Debt Collection Class Action Lawsuit

An Illinois judge recently certified a Class of consumers who may have received misleading debt collection notices from RGS Financial.

U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp Jr. has certified a Class of Illinois individuals who were sent a misleading debt collection letter by RGS Financial between Sept. 6, 2017 and Sept. 27, 2019. According to Judge Tharp, RGS Financial previously argued that lead plaintiff Gabriel Tataru lacked standing to bring claims on behalf of a Class since he did not suffer an “injury in fact.” However, Judge Tharp noted that “intangible injuries” are sufficient to confer standing in the case.

“Accordingly, the Court finds that Mr. Tataru has shown a concrete and particularized injury-in-fact and that he has standing to sue, and turns to his motion for class certification,” Judge Tharp wrote.

Tataru filed his debt collection class action lawsuit in September 2018, challenging a letter he received from RGS Financial. The company reportedly started contacting him with debt collection attempts in July 2018.

Tataru says that one of the first attempts came in the form of a letter detailing the alleged debt, the debt’s account number, and the balance due on the debt. However, in two separate places, Tataru was allegedly mislead by this letter when RGS Financial indicated that the creditor was “FNB OMAHA II” followed by a string of numbers.

“The Letter fails to clearly and accurately identify the current creditor to whom the debt is owed,” Tataru claims.

According to Tataru, RGS’ actions violated the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). FDCPA prohibits abusive debt collection practices which mislead consumers and contribute to financial hardship.

Debt collection letters and other communications are carefully regulated by FDCPA in order to protect consumers from misleading representations. In part, FDCPA requires that debt collection companies clearly and accurately identify “the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed.”

Failure to properly identify this creditor is considered “false, deceptive, and misleading” under FDCPA since misrepresentations about a creditor can confuse and deceive consumers. If debtors aren’t aware which debt a collector is inquiring about, they may be confused or may even believe that they are not responsible for the debt – leading them to make decisions they otherwise would not have.

“Defendant violated [the act] by making a false, deceptive and misleading statement when it claimed that the creditor to whom the debt was owed was ‘FNB Omaha II,’ since there is no entity by that name,” Tataru alleges in his debt collection class action lawsuit.

Tataru seeks statutory damages, court costs, and attorneys’ fees on behalf of himself and the recently certified Class.

Have you received confusing debt collection noticed from RGS or another debt collector? Let us know in the comment section below.

Tataru and the proposed Class are represented by Bryan Paul Thompson and Robert W. Harrer of the Chicago Consumer Law Center PC.

The RGS Debt Collection Class Action Lawsuit is Gabriel Tataru v. RGS Financial Inc., Case No. 1:18-cv-06106, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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