The inclusion of a Spanish sentence in an English language notice of a debt collector’s dunning letter violated FDCPA by overshadowing the rest of the notice

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York held in Erich v. I.C. System, Inc., No. CV-09-726 (E.D.N.Y., January 2010) that a Spanish sentence inserted into the English language notice of a debt collector’s dunning letter violated FDCPA by overshadowing the rest of the notice. The subject dunning notice in this class action case contained a sentence reading _si ud tiene alguna pregunta acera de esta cuenta llame 800/279-9420 y referir al numero de su cuenta_ translated as if you have some questions regarding your account, call 800/270-9420 and refer to your account number. The debtors contended that the inclusion of this sentence in the notice violated Section 1692g of FDCPA because it encouraged Spanish speaking debtors to call and thereby waive their right to notice. In denying the debt collectors motion for summary judgment the court found this was a case of first impression. The notice, the court concluded, was ambiguous to Spanish speaking debtors because it did not clearly state the available options. In fact, it found that the inclusion of the phone number actually encouraged the Spanish speaking debtors to call and potentially waive their right to challenge the debt’s validity. Although the notice was technically compliant with TILA in that the Spanish sentence was of a uniform font and size with the rest of the notice, it nonetheless destroyed the overall uniform presentation of the letter because the eyes of the Spanish-speaking consumer could gravitate to the Spanish text.

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