Rising Conflict Among Federal Courts – Whether An Account Number Visible On A Debt Collection Envelope Violates The FDCPA

Section 1692f(8) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ("FDCPA") prohibits the use of any language or symbol, other than the debt collector's address, on any envelope when communicating with a consumer by mail. The purpose of that prohibition is to protect the debtor's privacy and avoid disclosing to anyone who might see the envelope that a debt collection letter is inside. Last year, in Douglass v. Convergent Outsourcing, 765 F.3d 299 (3d Cir. 2014), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that a mere string of numbers (subsequently identified as an account number) displayed through a glassine window on the envelope of a debt collection letter violated Section 1692f(8). Following Douglass, federal courts have been inundated with similar claims. A string of recent decisions reflects discord among the district courts as to the viability of such claims.

Multiple decisions from district courts within the Second and Seventh Circuits expressly reject the holding in Douglass, dismissing the claims against the debt collectors. Perez v. Global Credit Collection, Corp., No. 14-9413 (S.D.N.Y. July 27, 2015); Gelinas v. Retrieval-Masters Creditors Bureau, Inc., No. 15-116 (W.D.N.Y. July 22, 2015); Davis v. MRS BPO, LLC, No. 15-2303 (N.D. Ill. July 15, 2015); Gonzalez v. FMS, Inc., No. 14-9424 (N.D. Ill. July 6, 2015); Sampson v. MRS BPO, LLC, No. 15-2258 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 17, 2015). In declining to follow Douglass, these district court decisions aligned with the Fifth and Eighth Circuits' as well as the Federal Trade Commission's interpretations of Section 1692f(8), which limit violations to the use of letters and symbols on envelopes indicating that the contents pertain to debt collection. Each of these decisions dismisses the relevance of the "account numbers" because any link to the debtor's account is only discoverable upon review of the enclosed letter, not on the face of the envelope. The holder of the letter is faced with a string of numbers without any knowledge or ability to infer that the numbers are linked to a debt. See e.g., Sampson, No. 15-2258 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 17, 2015) ("any hypothetical member of the public who views the envelope...would have to be blessed (or cursed?) with x-ray vision that enabled him or her to read the letter contained in the sealed...envelope" to perceive that it involved debt collection). Only one court outside of the Third Circuit has adopted Douglass. See Baker v. Credit Control, LLC, No...