Class Action Claims Deitsch and Wright Miscommunicated Consumer’s Debt Dispute Rights

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Deitsch and Wright, P.A. has been named in a proposed class action alleging the debt collector misled a Florida consumer regarding her right to dispute a purported debt. The plaintiff claims she received a collection letter from the defendant in October 2017 warning her the firm would “use any means at our disposal, within limits of the law” to collect the woman’s debt. According to the complaint, the letter went on to demand payment “immediately” and assured the plaintiff that if she delayed, the defendant would “be forced to take additional action to recover the subject amounts.”

The lawsuit argues that the defendant’s insistence on immediate payment and threat of further action overshadowed the plaintiff’s right to dispute her debt or request validation.

The complaint then claims the debt collector sent another letter in December 2017 that reiterated the information in the first notice, including the disclosure informing the plaintiff she had 30 days to dispute her supposed debt. The case argues that the defendant’s original threats were false, as proven by the lack of “additional action” taken against the plaintiff after the October 2017 letter. The lawsuit takes further issue with the second letter’s dispute disclosure, noting that the validation period had expired 30 days after the receipt of the defendant’s first letter – its “initial communication” with the plaintiff – and was void by the time she received the second notice.