Lawsuit: FirstStates Financial Services Unlawfully Demanded Payment for Fire Dept. Services

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FirstStates Financial Services, Corp. is facing a proposed class action after allegedly sending to a New Jersey man a deceptive collection letter.

The letter concerned a purported debt referred to the defendant by another debt collector, PA Fire Recovery Service, who the plaintiff previously sued over allegedly unlawful debt collection practices. According to the complaint, the supposed obligation arose from the City of Chester Fire Department’s response to a car accident in which the plaintiff was involved in October 2016. The man claims the fire department provided no assistance to him or his vehicle, yet non-party PA Fire Recovery Service reportedly sent him a letter demanding $600 for services purportedly rendered.

Then, on May 15, 2018, the plaintiff supposedly received a letter from the defendant seeking an amount of $800.40 for the same alleged obligation, which the case says represents a 33 percent increase from the balance stated in the previous letter. The lawsuit argues that the defendant’s letter contained false representations and attempted to collect an unlawful amount in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). As summarized in the complaint:

“The FirstStates Letter contained several false representations and deceptive and misleading misrepresentations, including but not limited to a false statement of the character, amount or legal status of the alleged debt, in violation of section 1692e(2)(A) of the FDCPA; the threat that FirstStates would communicate credit information which it knew or which should have known to be false, in violation of section 1692e(8); and, the false statement that [the plaintiff] had agreed to ‘pay the obligation,’ in violation of section 1692e(10) of the FDCPA.”

The lawsuit argues that the defendant had “no legal basis” to collect the alleged debt and sent the letter at issue in order to confuse and mislead the plaintiff into paying the requested amount.