Consumer Law

Jury Awards $1.5 Million to Consumer Abused by Debt Collector

By Randall Ryder

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonjon_2k8/340305918/

A Texas jury has awarded over $1.5 million to a consumer abused by debt collectors working for Advanced Call Center Technologies, LLC. The jury awarded $50,000 in mental anguish and $1.5 million in punitive damages.

The consumer, Allen Jones, is an African-American, and allegedly had an unpaid debt worth roughly $200. Despite disputing the debt, Jones received eight voicemails from employees of Advanced Call Center Technologies in which they used profanity and a number of racial slurs. The employees admitted to making the phone calls, one of which contained the following voicemail:

This is your mother******* wake-up call you little lazy a** b**** . . . get your mother******* n****r ass up and go pick some mother******* cotton fields.

Jones was satisfied with the verdict and the message it sent to debt collectors: ”We made a statement and the statement is we will not tolerate abusive debt collectors . . . .”

Full post as published by Caveat Emptor on June 03, 2010 (boomark / email).