On Sept. 8, following an en banc review, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued its much-awaited new decision in the Hunstein v. Preferred Collection and Management Services action, which involves a claimed violation of the federal Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA). Judge Britt Grant delivered the opinion of the court joined by seven other judges, while Chief Judge William Pryor filed a concurring opinion, and Judge Kevin Newsom, the judge who drafted the prior panel decision, filed a lengthy impassioned dissenting opinion.

Overall, the crux of the court's opinion rings true with what we learned from the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year in TransUnion v. Ramirez: That without concrete harm, there is no Article III standing and, without Article III standing, the federal courts do not have jurisdiction, and dismissal of the underlying complaint is required. That is what the Eleventh Circuit has decided in its final treatment of Hunstein.