Hinkle v. Midland
Jul 11, 2016OUTCOME: My client, the appellant, won the appeal and the case was remanded back to district court.
Midland is a debt collector who tried to collect on two creditor accounts that did not belong to Ms. Hinkle. She filed requests for deletion from her credit report because these debts did not belong to ... her. Midland tried to make her prove the debt did not belong to him, unlawfully shifting the burden of proof. She sued for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA"). Her case was dismissed at the federal district court level and she appealed. I represented her pro bono before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court held that down-the-line ("junk") debt buyers must obtain original, account level documentation in alleging that a consumer owes a debt, and that without it, they must remove the items once disputed. They found that this violates the FCRA. The case was remanded back to district court where, from what I understand, the case was successfully settled.
