Following a three-day civil jury trial, a Los Angeles jury unanimously ordered debt collector Arrow Financial Services to pay Laura Nelson a total sum of $100,000.00 for false credit reporting and unfair debt collection practices. The jury awarded Ms. Nelson $85,000.00 for her emotional distress and mental anguish, and also added a $15,000.00 penalty against Arrow for its repeated violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Laura Nelson v. Arrow Financial Services, LLC, United States District Court Case No. CV06-1568 RGK (PLAx).
I have not seen the opinion. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a collector is liable to a consumer for the greater of the consumer’s actual damages or $1,000. The collector is also liable for the consumer’s reasonable attorney’s fees. Now I will admit to you that I am not familiar with this case other than from blub which I have stated above. But I will say that if a jury was inflamed enough to award this kind of a verdict, the collector was certainly doing things that he knew was wrong.