Revised TCPA, FDCPA Class Action Claims Filed Against Navient in Mississippi

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After a previous complaint was dismissed without prejudice—with claims against individual attorney defendants dismissed months prior to the case itself being tossed—a Mississippi consumer has filed a new, revised lawsuit against Navient over alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). 

The lawsuit alleges the government-contracted student loan servicer has unlawfully:

• Placed debt collection phone calls to numbers that were never provided to Navient;
• Placed calls to student loan borrowers who never authorized Navient to contact them by phone; and
• Engaged in what the case describes as “other unauthorized and unlawful collection activities and communications.”

Per the lawsuit’s TCPA count, the plaintiff claims Navient began contacting his cell phone sometime in either May or June 2015 in an effort to collect on the man’s student loan debt. The plaintiff claims he was again contacted by Navient in July of that year despite having two new cell phone numbers. 

“The purpose for the plaintiff obtaining new cellular telephone numbers,” the complaint reads, “was, in large part, to avoid telephonic automatic-dialing-system harassment on the part of Navient, the servicer/collector of [the plaintiff’s] private student loans.”

More specifically, the lawsuit alleges the plaintiff himself received more than 80 unauthorized collection calls from Navient over his student loan debt. According to the complaint, these calls were placed using an automatic telephone dialing system prohibited by the TCPA for use for non-emergency purposes. 

For his FDCPA claim, the plaintiff argues he was unaware Navient had supposedly violated the law until he described his situation to his counsel. According to the complaint, the plaintiff, prior to receiving the aforementioned calls from Navient, had disputed his debt with the defendant and requested the company’s assistance in selecting the best possible repayment plan so as to avoid being constantly contacted via cell phone. 

“Instead of informing [the plaintiff] about available income-based-repayment plans, Navient engaged in ‘Rambo’ style collection, and telephonic harassment, activities,” the case charges.

The full complaint can be read below.