In Hartung v J.D. Byrider of Chandler, et al., 2009 U.S. Dist. Lexis 54415 (2009), the Plaintiff got behind on car payments. As one would expect, a collection agency became involved.
As one would not expect, the representative from the Collection agency called T-Mobile, claimed he was Plaintiff’s father and asked to be added to her cell phone account.
The Collection agency representative then began making harassing phone calls and texting to Plaintiff. A total of 17 text messages over 5 days that were sent, that the Court called angry, menacing & intimidating. The representative also claimed he was a lawyer and would have her arrested.
Below are selected text messages from the Collection Agency Representative:
“[Y]ou have various bills going to crows landing. I can tell by talking to you you’re smarter than this. So [sic] I guess we’ll see.”
“you [sic] might want to tell your amigo Rudy to get a job, I just faxed maricopa [sic] paperwork to stanislaus sheriff department [sic].”
“Calling [sic] me will not help you. Park the car [sic] tell Rudy to warm up the Impala.“
“[I]t upsets me a smart girl like you is iwith [sic] a guy is [sic] doing nothing at 11:30 a.m. but when he doesn’t have a free car he’ll leave.”
“[M]ake sure and have the [sic] deputy call me, nad [sic] show him your DL too.”
“[T]he guy in [G]eorgia has been removed from the case. Now its my entire staff versus you.”
As for how the Court handled the disposition of the case, watch the summary from “Textual Relations,” presented at the Paraben Forensic Innovation Conference.