A "Silent" Voice-Mail Message from a Debt Collector Is Not Harassment, Judge Rules
Debt collectors will never stop being ingenious when it comes to new ways to be annoying -- it's just part of their DNA, part of what makes a towheaded, strapping young lad say to his proud pop, "Someday I'm going to be a debt collector, Dad!"
Silence is golden, judge rules.
Surreptitiously wiping a proud tear as he rubs the boy's head, Dad can only dream that one day his boy will win a court victory that will go down in the debt-collection annals like the one issued August 15, where a judge ruled that leaving a 20-second silent phone message on an answering machine does not constitute harassment. (H/T Courthouse News Service.)
"In short, persuasive case law supports the idea that a voicemail is a communication only when it conveys more information than could be gathered from a missed call," U.S. District Judge Gray Miller ruled. "Silence does not meet this standard."
Miller dismissed a complaint by Brenda Garza against collection agency MRS BPO L.L.C. fka MRS Associates Inc.
The ruling did not provide any details on the debt involved.
Follow Houston Press on Facebook and on Twitter @HairBallsNews or @HoustonPress
Location Info
Venue
Map
United States Courthouse
515 Rusk St., Houston, TX
Category: General
|
0 user reviews
|
Write A Review |
| Save to foursquare |
|
Email to Friend
Write to Editor
Print Article
