Farewell, Hunstein—Eleventh Circuit Holds Disclosing Debtor’s Information to Mail Vendor Does Not Establish Concrete Harm
In this article, the authors discuss a federal appellate court decision holding that merely providing a consumer’s information to a mail vendor to send a debt collection letter did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
In Hunstein v. Preferred Collection and Management Services, Inc., the Eleventh Circuit’s en banc panel reversed the prior panel’s decision and held “no concrete harm, no standing,” citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez. As such, the Eleventh Circuit held that the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (“District Court”) lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate plaintiff ’s claim, vacated the District Court’s order, and remanded with instructions to dismiss the case without prejudice. The Eleventh Circuit ruled that merely providing a consumer’s information to a mail vendor to send a debt collection letter did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) since it is not a public disclosure.
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“Farewell, Hunstein—Eleventh Circuit Holds Disclosing Debtor’s Information to Mail Vendor Does Not Establish Concrete Harm,” by Wayne Streibich, Diana M. Eng, and Andrea M. Roberts was published in the January 2023 edition of Pratt’s Journal of Bankruptcy Law (Vol. 19, No. 1), an A.S. Pratt Publication, LexisNexis. Reprinted with permission.
This article was first published as a Blank Rome FILARC client advisory in September 2022.