Under the venue provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), a debt collector who brings a legal action against a debtor must bring such action in the “judicial district” either where the debtor signed the contract sued upon, or where the debtor currently resides.1 Failure to do so exposes the debt collector to civil liability for the actual damages sustained by the debtor, and additional damages up to $1,000, plus the debtor’s costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.2
Recently, in Hess v. Cohen & Slamowitz, LLP,3 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided a question of first impression: To wit, whether a debt collector violates the FDCPA’s venue provisions by suing a consumer in a city court in the State of New York when the city court lacks power to hear the action because the consumer does not reside in that city or a town contiguous by land thereto, regardless of whether the debtor resides in the same county in which the city court is located.
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