A Missouri jury ordered a debt buyer to pay nearly $83
million to a Kansas City woman it pursued for a $1,000 credit card bill she
didn't owe, NPR affiliate KCUR reports.
The jury found Portfolio Recovery
Associates LLC guilty of violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, for
which it will pay $250,000 in damages, as well as maliciously prosecuting the
woman, Maria Guadalupe Mejia, over the debt that did not belong to her. For the
malicious prosecution, the jury awarded Mejia $82,990,000 in punitive damages.
PRA Group Inc., which owns Portfolio Recovery Associates,
sent an email statement to Credit.com:
"This outlandish verdict defies all common sense,"
wrote spokesman Michael McKeon. "We hope and expect the judge will set
aside this inappropriate award, and we plan to file motions to make that
request formally in the near term. Any fair reading of the facts of this case
makes plain that a verdict of this size is not justice by any means, and cannot
stand."
Portfolio Recovery, one of the nation's largest debt buyers,
sued Mejia in February 2013 over the credit card debt, though the actual debtor
turned out to be a man in Kansas City, Kansas, with a name similar to Mejia's.
The company pursued Mejia for the debt for 15 months after she first received
notice of the lawsuit. In a written statement to KCUR, Mejia said, "The
lawsuit terrified me."
Fear is a common consumer response to debt collectors,
whether the debt is legitimate or not. The first thing consumers should do when
they hear from a debt collector is ask the collector to validate the debt in
writing — it's crucial to know your debt collection rights as a consumer, so
you don't end up paying a debt you don't owe or letting the collection account
unnecessarily damage your credit standing. (You can see if a collection account
is affecting your credit scores for free on Credit.com.)
If you're unsure of how to approach a debt collection
situation, you may want to consult a consumer law attorney, who may review your
case for free, to help you understand whether the collector is violating your
rights.
Source: credit.com