McCollough v. Johnson, Rodenburg & Lauinger, LLC

Tim McCollough (plaintiff) had a credit-card debt eventually assigned to CACV of Colorado, which hired the law firm Johnson, Rodenburg & Lauinger (JRL) (defendant) to collect it. JRL sued McCollough after incorrectly being told by CACV that a 2004 partial payment had extended the limitations period; McCollough informed JRL his last payment was actually in 1999, and CACV then admitted its 2004-payment claim was an error. Despite knowing this, JRL served discovery requests asking McCollough to admit facts including that he made the 2004 payment and never disputed the debt. A jury found JRL violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and the district court granted summary judgment to McCollough on those claims; JRL appealed.