Class Action: Two Debt Collectors Attempted to Collect Legal Fees ‘Not Yet Awarded’ by Court

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Lyons, Doughty & Veldhuis, P.A. and Midland Funding, LLC are the defendants in a proposed class action alleging the debt collectors misrepresented the amount of a consumer’s debt and attempted to collect more than the woman legally owed.

The plaintiff received a collection notice from the defendants in March 2018 regarding an obligation incurred on a Boscov’s credit card, the suit says. The defendants allegedly failed to clearly convey in the letter the plaintiff’s amount of debt by including a possible charge not yet owed by the woman:

“Amount Due: $1,492.42
Court Costs: $89.50 (costs due to date, not yet awarded by the Court)”

The notice did “not explain whether the ‘amount due’ includes the ‘court costs’ or whether the ‘court costs’ are an additional fee” not yet reflected in the balance, leaving the plaintiff unable to determine her debt amount, the case argues. Moreover, the suit charges the defendants’ letter unlawfully imposed legal fees on the plaintiff that had not yet been awarded in court and therefore were not owed at the time.