On March 21, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed a district court judgment in a case involving statutory damages under the FDCPA for lack of injury. The court asserted that statutory damages alone do not suffice for standing without proof of injury, whether financial or reputational. The individual plaintiff disputed a debt claim reported by a credit agency, but the defendants (two companies involved in debt collection services) delayed notifying the credit reporting agency of the dispute for 29 days. The plaintiff argued this delay entitled her to statutory damages, and a jury awarded her $250. However, the 7th Circuit found the plaintiff lacked standing because she did not prove any actual injury resulting from the delay during the 29-day period: “[The plaintiff] ended up with zero evidence of injury — none [was] actually introduced into the record, none [was] described by an offer of proof. And a litigant who never supplies evidence of injury lacks standing to sue.”
The appellate court emphasized the need to demonstrate actual injury for standing in FDCPA cases. It noted the plaintiff failed to provide evidence that her credit report was accessed during the delay or that her credit score or insurance premiums were affected. Ultimately, the court remanded the case with instructions to dismiss due to the lack of a justiciable controversy.
