SIMMONS v. TRINITY HOPE ASSOCIATES LLC

Filing 10

ORDER granting 6 Motion for Default Judgment. Ordered by US DISTRICT JUDGE TILMAN E SELF, III on 04/18/2019. (chc)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
MACON DIVISION
SHARONICA SIMMONS,
Plaintiff,

CIVIL ACTION NO.

v.

5:18-cv-00177-TES

TRINITY HOPE ASSOCIATES, LLC,
Defendant.
ORDER GRANTING IN PART MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT
______________________________________________________________________________
Presently before the Court is Plaintiff Sharonica Simmons’ Motion for Default
Judgment [Doc. 6] on her claims against Defendant Trinity Hope Associates, LLC. The
Court GRANTS this motion.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In her Complaint [Doc. 1], Plaintiff claims that Defendant violated the Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) by reporting an uncollected debt to credit reporting
agencies without designating that the debt was disputed. See 15 U.S.C. § 1692e(8)
(prohibiting debt collectors from “[c]ommunicating or threatening to communicate to
any person credit information which is known or which should be known to be false,
including the failure to communicate that a disputed debt is disputed”). Plaintiff seeks
statutory damages in the amount of $1,000.00; actual damages in the amount of
$15,000.00; and attorney’s fees and expenses. [Doc. 6-1, pp. 4–5]. Plaintiff effected service

on Defendant and, after Defendant failed to make an appearance in the case, sought and
received an entry of default from the Clerk of Court on February 20, 2019.
DISCUSSION
A.

Standard of Review

At a party's request and following the Clerk's entry of default, the Court may enter
a default judgment against a defendant who has failed to plead or otherwise defend. See
Fed. R. Civ. P. 55; Solaroll Shade and Shutter Corp. v. Bio-Energy Sys., Inc., 803 F.2d 1130,
1134 (11th Cir. 1986). Entry of default judgment is committed to the discretion of the
Court. Hamm v. Dekalb Cty., 774 F.2d 1567, 1576 (11th Cir. 1985). However, default
judgment does not follow automatically from an entry of default. The Court “must ensure
that the well-pleaded allegations in the complaint, which are taken as true due to the
default, actually state a substantive cause of action and that there is a substantive,
sufficient basis in the pleadings for the particular relief sought.” Tyco Fire & Sec., LLC v.
Alcocer, 218 F. App'x 860, 863 (11th Cir. 2007). As to requests for damages, the Court may
conduct evidentiary hearings, although “no such hearing is required where all essential
evidence is already of record.” SEC v. Smyth, 420 F.3d 1225, 1232 n.13 (11th Cir. 2005).
B.

Plaintiff’s Allegations

Plaintiff alleges in her Complaint that she owed a debt to FastTrack Immediate
Care in the amount of $126.00. [Doc. 1, ¶ 6]. In January 2018, Plaintiff discovered that
Defendant reported the debt to Equifax for inclusion on her credit report. [Id. at ¶ 7]. In

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response she mailed a letter to Defendant disputing the debt in February 2018. [Id. at ¶
8]. Two months later, as she was attempting to obtain a loan, Plaintiff reviewed her credit
report and saw that Defendant failed to designate the debt as disputed, despite having
received Plaintiff’s formal dispute. [Id. at ¶¶ 9, 10].
These allegations are sufficient to state a claim for violation of the FDCPA, which
specifically prohibits debt collectors from reporting disputed debts to credit reporting
agencies without designating that the debts are disputed. See 15 U.S.C. § 1692e(8). Thus,
the Court turns to whether Plaintiff is entitled to damages.
C.

Damages

The FDCPA provides allows for plaintiffs to receive actual damages plus “such
additional damages as the court may allow, but not exceeding $1,000.” 15 U.S.C. §
1692k(a). Given the clear violation Defendant is alleged to have committed, the Court
finds that an award of the statutory maximum of $1,000.00 to be appropriate. See 15 U.S.C.
§ 1692k(b)(1).
The Court also held a hearing to determine actual damages. See Fed. R. Civ. P.
55(b)(2). Due to Plaintiff’s absence at the hearing and in lieu of other testimony as to actual
damages, Plaintiff’s counsel orally withdrew Plaintiff’s request for $15,000.00 in actual
damages, leaving only the request for statutory damages. Accordingly, the Court
GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion for Default Judgment. Defendant is ORDERED to pay

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Plaintiff $1,000.00. Plaintiff may file a motion for attorney’s fees with the requisite
documentation within 14 days of the date of this Order. See LR 54.1, MDGa.
SO ORDERED, this 18th day of April, 2019.

S/ Tilman E. Self, III
TILMAN E. SELF, III, JUDGE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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