Harris v. Nationstar Mortgage LLC

Filing 7

MEMORANDUM Order: For the reasons stated in this memorandum order, this action will go forward. Signed by the Honorable Milton I. Shadur on 1/9/2017:Mailed notice(clw, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION

SEAN HARRIS,
Plaintiff,
v.
NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE
350 Highland Dr.
Lewisville, TX 75067
Defendant.

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Case No. 16 C 11381

MEMORANDUM ORDER
On December 19, 2016 this Court issued a sua sponte memorandum order posing the
question whether defendant Nationstar Mortgage was a "debt collector" under the terms of the
federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6). Counsel for plaintiff Sean
Harris has responded by filing an Amended Complaint that reflects a misunderstanding of that
question, framing it as an inquiry "to clarify whether the Defendant is also the original
creditor" -- a question to which the original Complaint ¶¶ 9 and 12 had already provided a
negative answer.
But in any event, even though Judge Daniel Manion's separate opinion in McKinney v.
Cadleway Props., Inc., 548 F.3d 496, 505-06 (7th Cir. 2008) would appear to be more faithful to
the statutory language than the view that has gained acceptance through the majority opinion in
that case and the later opinion of our Court of Appeals in Ruth v. Triumph P'ships, 577 F.3d 790,
796-97 (7th Cir. 2009), the latter authorities have taught that the statutory term "debt collector"
encompasses any party that seeks to collect a debt that did not originate with that party, which

instead acquired the debt from another party at a time when the debt was in default. This Court
is of course duty-bound to adhere to that established caselaw. Accordingly this action will go
forward, and this Court is contemporaneously issuing a memorandum order setting an initial
status hearing date.

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Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge
Date: January 9, 2017

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