NCLC coordinated efforts in this FDCPA case to file an amicus brief prepared by Dick Rubin and Deepak Gupta that also was joined by Public Good and NACA. The issues presented are (1) Whether special counsel – lawyers appointed by the Attorney General to undertake his duty to collect debts owed to the state – are state “officers” within the meaning of 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6)(C); and (2) whether it is materially misleading under 15 U.S.C. § 1692e for special counsel to use Attorney General letterhead to convey that they are collecting debts owed to the State on behalf of the Attorney General.
Our amicus focuses on the second issue, including rebutting Petitioner’s argument that the Supreme Court should reject the least sophisticated consumer standard and instead adopt an “average consumer” standard.