Wayne Streibich, Diana M. Eng, and Alina Levi

Financial institutions, debt collectors, debt collection law firms, and consumer-facing businesses should take note that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that merely asserting a statutory violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), confusion, lost time, and/or a future risk of harm are insufficient to establish Article III standing. The Fifth Circuit’s application and clarification of the United States Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, —U.S.—, 141 S. Ct. 2190, 2200 (2021) (“TransUnion”) should result in the dismissal of other pending actions and prevent future actions based on allegations of a mere statutory violation of the FDCPA, future risk of harm, lost time, and/or confusion resulting from debt collection communications.

In Perez v. McCreary, Veselka, Bragg & Allen, P.C., — F.4th —, No. 21-50958, 2022 WL 3355249, at *1 (5th Cir. Aug. 15, 2022), the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (“Fifth Circuit”) vacated a class certification order and remanded the case to be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, holding that a statutory violation of the FDCPA, alone, is insufficient to confer Article III standing. Further, the Fifth Circuit held that a purported future risk of harm, experiencing confusion, and/or lost time are insufficient to allege the required injury-in-fact for Article III standing to maintain a lawsuit in federal court.

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