Demand for arbitration (LVNV)

[Robby8900]

On June 14, i demanded arbitration with LVNV  through email correspondence in which an entity called Trueaccord, on behalf of LVNV attempted to collect. Today, i received a letter from Resurgent Capital Services LLC, regarding that notice. RCS did their boiler plate response by sending a copy of Account Summary Report and said that verifies the debt regarding my inquiry. Are that that stupid, to treat a demand for arbitration to settle all disputes arising out of the written agreement as a verification of debt?

[Clydesmom]

3 hours ago, Robby8900 said:

Are that that stupid, to treat a demand for arbitration to settle all disputes arising out of the written agreement as a verification of debt?

It is a standard response.  Your demand for arbitration is meaningless until they sue you and you motion to compel it or you file arbitration now and when they ignore you go to Federal Court and file a motion to compel arbitration.  There is ZERO case law that invoking arbitration in a letter and them ignoring you and suing anyway is an FDCPA violation.

[fisthardcheese]

On 7/20/2019 at 11:32 AM, Robby8900 said:

On June 14, i demanded arbitration with LVNV  through email correspondence in which an entity called Trueaccord, on behalf of LVNV attempted to collect. Today, i received a letter from Resurgent Capital Services LLC, regarding that notice. RCS did their boiler plate response by sending a copy of Account Summary Report and said that verifies the debt regarding my inquiry. Are that that stupid, to treat a demand for arbitration to settle all disputes arising out of the written agreement as a verification of debt?

On the contrary, they have learned from longtime members on this board and previous ones, that something like a demand for arbitration letter is essentially the same as a dispute and to cover the legalities a verification of debt is sent.  They are not obligated to do anything else unless you file an arbitration case and subsequent PTC in Federal Court.

[Pericles]

Quote

There is ZERO case law that invoking arbitration in a letter and them ignoring you and suing anyway is an FDCPA violation.

That does seem to still continue to be the case.  OP: See the series of forum posts regarding Bentrud (7th Cir. 2015) beginning here.

However, since Bentrud, there have been many FDCPA cases that have survived a motion to dismiss based upon ignoring an "election" of an arbitration clause after a lawsuit has been filed.

For example, this recent decision;

Destro v Tsarouhis Law Group, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48894 (M.D. Pennsylvania, March 25, 2019) (WOLF, BENJAMIN)

Quote

On March 7, 2018, the plaintiff, represented by Attorneys Carlo Sabitini and Brett Freeman, sent Tsarouhis an email advising Tsarouhis that the contract for the loan the Law Group was collecting on contained an arbitration provision. (Id. ¶ 32). The plaintiff notified Tsarouhis that he was electing to have the dispute resolved in arbitration. (Id.) The email further demanded that the collection action be withdrawn from the Court of Common Pleas and refiled with the appropriate arbitration forum. (Id. ¶ 33). Tsarouhis did not respond to the email. (Id. ¶ 35). Plaintiff followed up with a subsequent email and written letter to Tsarouhis on March 26, 2018. (Id. ¶ 36). Once again, neither Tsarouhis nor the Law Group responded to the plaintiff's communications. (Id. ¶ 41).

 

Quote

Specifically, the plaintiff alleges that the defendants required the plaintiff to file a motion to compel arbitration after receiving no response from the defendants and then required him to attend an unnecessary, and ultimately uncontested, hearing on the motion. The defendants argue that this conduct alleged does not amount to a violation of the FDCPA. We disagree.

The above decision has been cited in other cases already, for example Reizner v Pioneer Credit Recovery, Inc et al.

[Robby8900]

43 minutes ago, Pericles said:

That does seem to still continue to be the case.  OP: See the series of forum posts regarding Bentrud (7th Cir. 2015) beginning here.

However, since Bentrud, there have been many FDCPA cases that have survived a motion to dismiss based upon ignoring an "election" of an arbitration clause after a lawsuit has been filed.

For example, this recent decision;

Destro v Tsarouhis Law Group, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48894 (M.D. Pennsylvania, March 25, 2019) (WOLF, BENJAMIN)

 

The above decision has been cited in other cases already, for example Reizner v Pioneer Credit Recovery, Inc et al.

Thank you!

[pulpfiction0]

The problem is that these law firms will go above and beyond to avoid creating new precedent.  The case cited above may have very well established that precedent.  Not sure of the outcome, but odds are that the firm offered a generous settlement agreement with an NDA in order to avoid precedent that would be highly beneficial to consumers.