Although granting the motion to remand to State court, Judge Harry D. Leinenweber succintly clarified the Hunstein argument: "In summary we have a debt collector who utilizes a third party to mail Dunning letters. Thus, the only individual having access to the debt information ithe individual who created and mailed the Dunning letter. This ministerial activity is no different from what a lawyer’s secretary normally performs. The fact that a secretary is an employee rather than a contractual worker appears wholly irrelevant. In fact, many lawyers hire contract secretarial services, as well as court reportors. Court reporters, like thethird-party vendor in this case, are not covered by thepermissible list of persons to whom the debt information may be disclosed
Suppose an attorney who is employed to collect a large debt is forced to file suit against the debtor and in course of the proceeding takes a deposition of the debtor before a court reporter, who is virtually always, like the third-party vendor in this case, a third-party vendor," writes Judge Harry D. Leinenweber for the DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION
The Plaintiff, Melinda Stallworth (“Stallworth” or the
“Plaintiff”), is bringing a putative class action on behalf of
herself and others similarly situated against Defendants,
Terrill Outsourcing Group, LLC d/b/a Superlative RM and Bureaus
Investment Group Portfolio No. 15 LLC (the “Defendants”), debt
collectors, for violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices
Act (the “FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq. Her specific
allegation is that Defendants employed a third-party vendor to
communicate with Plaintiff concerning collection of a debt
without her permission, which is alleged to violate § 1692c(b)
of the FDCPA.
"Plaintiff has filed this Motion to Remand, arguing that there is no case or controversy because she
is only seeking statutory damages which can be recovered in state
court. (Mot., Dkt. No. 16.) She has stipulated that she has not
suffered any actual damages."
Intrigued by Judge Harry D. Leinenweber I found this story about him: "When Harry Leinenweber arrived at Montgomery Ward’s corporate headquarters on West Chicago Avenue, the receptionist had a message for him: call your office. Leinenweber was in Chicago that day to take a deposition in a lawsuit he was defending for the large retailer. His life was about to change forever. Leinenweber called his secretary who informed him that the President of the United States had called, and she gave him a phone number he was to call.
“I direct dialed the President of the United States. President Reagan said ‘Harry, I was about to sign a commission appointing you as a federal district judge for the Northern District of Illinois, but I thought I better get your permission first. Do I have it?’ And I stumbled out ‘yes you do.’”“What did you do afterwards?” I asked my dad as we sat in his chambers on the 19th floor of the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago.
“I took the deposition,” though he confirmed it was certainly difficult to concentrate.
Harry D. Leinenweber began his legal career in Joliet, Illinois, as a member of a small firm and a part-time city attorney.“Life,” he explained, “to a certain extent, is being in the right place at the right time.” To read more about Judge Harry D. Leinenweber click here.