7th Cir. Holds Collecting ‘Fees on Fees’ Did Not Violate the FDCPA

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently affirmed judgment in a debt collector’s favor against claims that its efforts to collect attorney’s fees incurred to collect a debt — including the fees incurred in collecting the attorney’s fees — violated the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

In so ruling, the Seventh Circuit concluded that dismissal of a related state court action brought by the debt collector to collect attorney’s fees for lack of prosecution did not have preclusive effect, and no violation of the FDCPA, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., occurred because the plain language of the underlying agreement required the consumer to pay all collection costs including attorney’s fees.

A copy of the opinion in Robbins v. Med-1 Solutions, LLC is available at:  Link to Opinion.