Long v. Pendrick Capital Partners II, LLC, Case No.: GJH-17-1955

• Decision Date: 18 March 2019
• Docket Number: Case No.: GJH-17-1955
• Citation: 374 F.Supp.3d 515
• Parties: Crystal LONG, Plaintiff, v. PENDRICK CAPITAL PARTNERS II, LLC, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

374 F.Supp.3d 515

Crystal LONG, Plaintiff,

v.PENDRICK CAPITAL PARTNERS II, LLC, et al., Defendants.

Case No.: GJH-17-1955

United States District Court, D. Maryland, Southern Division.

Signed March 18, 2019

Ingmar Bancroft Goldson, The Goldson Law Office, Silver Spring, MD, Courtney Weiner, Law Office of Courtney Weiner PLLC, Washington, MD, for Plaintiff.

Patrick Dugan McKevitt, Whiteford Taylor and Preston LLP, Baltimore, MD, Morgan I. Marcus, Sessions Fishman Nathan and Israel, Chicago, IL, Armand J. Della Porta, Jr., Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman and Goggin, Wilmington, DE, Ronald M. Metcho, II, Pro Hac Vice, Andrew Michael Schwartz, Pro Hac Vice, Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman and Goggin, Philadelphia, PA, Thomas Francis Lucchesi, III, Stradley Ronon, Washington, DC, Daniel Denzel DeVougas, Jones Day, Washington, DC, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GEORGE J. HAZEL, United States District Judge

Plaintiff Crystal Long brings this consumer protection action against Defendants Pendrick Capital Partners II (Pendrick) and Ability Recovery Services, LLC (Ability) alleging Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), common-law defamation, Maryland Consumer Debt Collection Act (MCDCA), and Maryland Consumer Protection Act (MCPA) claims. Currently pending before the Court are Plaintiff's Partial Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. 45, requesting judgment as a matter of law on her FCRA and FDCPA, and Defendants' Cross Motions for Summary Judgment on all claims, ECF Nos. 55 & 57. No hearing is necessary. See Loc. R. 105.6 (D. Md. 2016). For the reasons that follow, Plaintiff's Partial Motion for Summary Judgment will be granted in part and denied in part, and Defendants' Motions for Summary Judgment will be granted in part and denied in part.

I. BACKGROUND

Defendant Pendrick is a debt buyer that purchases delinquent medical debts and then seeks to collect the debts by placing each account with a debt collection agency. ECF No. 45-3 at 47, 49.¹ Pendrick does not resell any of the debts it buys. Id. In November 2016, Pendrick purchased a medical debt from EmCare-Randall Emergency Physicians belonging to a "Crystal Long" who lived at 5126 Sekots Road, Baltimore, Maryland. ECF No. 45-3 at 36.

Pendrick then engaged Defendant Ability—a debt collector—to recover two accounts related to the Emcare debt. ECF No. 57-4 ¶ 4. An account ending in "2448" sought to recover $ 1,125 of the Emcare debt, and an account ending in "2446" related to $ 74.00 of the Emcare debt. ECF No. 45-3 at 101, 103.

Pendrick transmitted certain information about the Emcare debt to Ability including the debtor's Baltimore address, ECF No. 45-3 at 35, and the fact that the debtor received emergency room services from Emcare in August 2014, see Exhibit H.² Ability also associated the birthdate "May 1, 1985" and a Social Security number ending in "6876" with the Emcare debt. See Exhibit H. Ability uses "skip tracing"—a service that finds potentially identifying information about a consumer based on the details that Ability already knows about a debtor. ECF No. 45-3 at 60. Through skip tracing, Ability associated Plaintiff's address with the Emcare debt. Id. at 62.

Plaintiff Crystal Long has lived in Bowie Maryland at 12704 Fairwood Parkway for five years. ECF No. 45-3 at 3. Although Plaintiff shares her name with the Emcare debtor, it is undisputed that she is not responsible for the Emcare debt. ECF No. 45-3 at 24–26, 18 ; Exhibit H.³ Further, despite sharing the debtor's name, Plaintiff does not share other personal identifying information with the debtor. Id. at 24–26, 28, 95–96; Exhibit H. The hospital summary of the Emcare services rendered show that the debtor "Crystal Long" received care on August 26, 2014, includes the debtor's birthdate, and indicates that the debtor worked at the Department of Corrections. ECF No. 45-3 at 95–96. Plaintiff has a different birthdate and social security number than debtor "Crystal Long"; she has never received any services from EmCare; and she has never worked at the Department of Corrections. Id. at 24–26, 28; Exhibit H.

Based on the match between Plaintiff's and the debtor's name and a skip-traced address associating the debt with Plaintiff, Ability sent Plaintiff Crystal Long initial collection letters for the two accounts related to the underlying Emcare debt on November 14, 2016. Id. at 101–104. The letters included this language:

Unless you notify this office within 30 days after receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of the debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume this debt I [sic] valid. If you notify this office in writing within 30 days from receiving this notice, this office will provide you the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor. If you notify this office in writing within the thirty-day period that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, this office will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment against you and a copy of such verification or judgment will be mailed to you by this office.

Id. at 101, 103. The letters also stated: "Be further advised that our client has instructed this office to make a direct report to a credit reporting agency should this debt go unresolved." Id.

Accordingly, on November 22, 2018, within thirty days of receiving the collection letters, Plaintiff called Ability to notify the office that she disputed the validity of the Emcare debt. Exhibit H. Ability employee Mark Carlson answered Plaintiff's call. Id. Carlson and Plaintiff began by discussing the letter for the account ending in "2448" requesting payment of $ 1,125 of the Emcare debt. Id. Plaintiff told Carlson that she did not recognize this debt. Id. Carlson explained that the debt was for services rendered at an emergency room in August 2014 and asked whether the birthdate on file for the debtor matched Plaintiff's date of birth. Id. No Social Security number was associated with the $ 1,125 debt (the "2448" account). Id. Plaintiff asserted that she was not in the emergency room in August 2014 and that the birthdate on file for the debtor was not her birthdate. Id. Carlson responded "You'll have to dispute this with your credit bureau then," and explained that Ability would place the account under dispute. Id. Carlson also shared that a Social Security number was purportedly associated with the second account for $ 74.00. Id. That associated Social Security number did not match Plaintiff's.

Carlson at first told Plaintiff that Ability had already reported the debt to the consumer reporting agencies (CRAs); Plaintiff prompted, "you're telling me that these particular items of debt collection have been sent to my credit report, is that what you're saying, which is why you're going to dispute them?" and Carlson responded, "correct." Id. However, Carlson later told Plaintiff that Ability had only been aware of the debt for fifteen days, and it waits thirty days before furnishing tradeline information to credit bureaus. Id.

Although Ability had not yet furnished the tradeline information and despite Plaintiff's specific assertions that her Social Security number and birthdate did not match the debtor's, Carlson indicated that Ability would report the debt to the CRAs and that Plaintiff's sole recourse was to dispute the debt through the CRAs after it was reported. Id. Specifically, as Plaintiff pressed for more information about why Ability contacted her about the debt, Carlson told Plaintiff again and again that she should just dispute it with the CRAs rather than ask Ability questions or take other action: "So I would recommend just dispute this with your credit agency"; "So again, just dispute it with the credit agency"; "rather than ask the questions, the easiest way to resolve this is to just contact the credit agencies"; "you keep asking me why, these ‘whys’ don't apply, I don't know ‘why’ "; "several times now I've advised, just dispute it with the credit bureaus under your name"; "that answer is best suited for the credit reporting agencies." Id. Acknowledging the possibility that Ability's collection attempts were based on errors, Carlson continuously suggested that the credit reporting agencies would be best suited to determine whether an error had in fact occurred: "when it gets sent over to the credit reporting agencies, they'll identify whatever unique factors that they utilize, matching up all your information and they'll identify if there was in fact an error. Think of the database in the credit reporting agency—millions upon millions upon millions of people are stored there. Are there errors that occur? Absolutely. On a daily basis. On a case by case basis. So the only way to be able to resolve those types of errors that occur, which, again, based on human hands is certainly possible, you have to go through the steps with the credit reporting agency to dispute this with them." Id.

Carlson also told Plaintiff that he would mark the accounts as disputed and Ability would not contact her about the debt. He did not tell her that she had to send in a written dispute to Ability, that she should request validation of the debts, or that she should provide documentation showing that her Social Security number and birthdate did not match the debtor's purported identifying information. Id. He stated at his deposition that he does not have the power to determine whether or not a consumer actually owes a debt and he was not sure who at Ability did have that authority. ECF No. 43-3 at 83. Similarly, Ability's corporate representative attested that Ability automatically uploads the information that they are provided to the CRAs, and the CRAs "decide the best fit" by matching the details provided with consumer information. Id. at 61.

After the November 22, 2016 phone call, Ability updated its internal records to reflect that Plaintiff had disputed the debt. ECF No. 57-10 at 9. However, after the...