Holcomb v. Freedman Anselmo Lindberg, LLC

Dist. Ct. erred in granting plaintiff-debtor’s motion for summary judgment in action alleging that defendant-debt collector violated section 1692c(a)(2) of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by serving debtor directly with copy of default judgment motion in underlying state-court proceeding to collect on said debt, where attorney had appeared on behalf of plaintiff at two court proceedings without filing either written entry of appearance or other pleading on behalf of plaintiff. Under Ill. Supreme Ct. Rule 11, defendant was required to serve plaintiff, as party to lawsuit, with copy of default judgment motion, since Rule 11 states that lawyer becomes attorney of record only if he or she files written appearance or other written pleading on behalf of plaintiff. As such, there could no violation of FDCPA, since Rule 11 required that defendant serve plaintiff with said motion. Ct. further noted that section 1692c(a) of FDCPA explicitly allows debt collector to communicate with represented debtor, where, as here, court of competent jurisdiction permits it to do so.