damages under FDCPA

[cjtx]

This may be trivial, but I would like to know what you think or know.

FDCPA Sec. 811 requires that a creditor brings suit in the judicial district or legal entity where the consumer signed the contract or resides.

If someone sued me and got a judgment, is that considered damages?

Under my state's law, I can collect 3 or 6 times damages for this particular violation.

So is there any point on trying to vacate the old judgment or just sue for damages in the judicial district where I lived at the time when the legal action against me got started?

I have someone else sue me in the wrong jurisdiction, so I am considering letting them win, so I can collect triple or six-fold damages. Does this make sense? Will that affect my credit score?

I'm thinking they will try to settle and have the judgment vacated. But maybe this is just wishful thinking.

[direred]

If they sued you in the wrong place, it's not trivial.

If you never lived there or signed the contract there, it's prima facie violation.

[Optimus_SubPrime]

I have wondered about this before, but in a slightly different context. If you submit a timely DV, and the debt collector does not verify the debt with the original creditor, but goes on to sue you anyway -- if the collector succeeds in court, do you still have a cause of action against the collector for the amount of the judgment he was able to obtain against you? Because the collector violated the law prohibiting further collection, and his violation of that law injured you?

It seems like an odd way of thinking to me, that you could turn around and sue a debt collector for obtaining a judgment against you, but I can't see anything wrong with the logic of it.

To get back to cjtx's point, I wonder whether the ability to vacate the judgment would be seen as a mitigating factor as far as calculating damages goes.

[Recovering Attorney]

The venue provision should be used as an afirmative defense. Put it in the "Live" suit or lose it.

The question to ask when vacating a judgment always is: do you ave a defense to the action?

It is not trivial, but I have seen cases where the court treats it as such. You'd get minimal damages.

[cjtx]

Thank you for your replies. It was too good to be true.

So there is only minimal damages for this.

One more question. Texas mini FDCPA and the deceptive trade practices act, has a provision that says this is what you may recover on a venue violation:

(1) the amount of economic damages found by the trier of fact. If the trier of fact finds that the conduct of the defendant was committed knowingly, the consumer may also recover damages for mental anguish, as found by the trier of fact, and the trier of fact may award not more than three times the amount of economic damages; or if the trier of fact finds the conduct was committed intentionally, the consumer may recover damages for mental anguish, as found by the trier of fact, and the trier of fact may award not more than three times the amount of damages for mental anguish and economic damages

How do you prove mental anguish?