United States District Court Southern District of Alabama

We represented a debtor in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy.  Several weeks after she filed her petition, a debt collector withdrew funds out of her personal checking account in the amounts of $400, $344 and $169 for a past due debt.  This caused her checking account to overdraw.

She incurred another $500 in overdraft fees and expenses.  This debt was included in her bankruptcy and the debt collector had been placed on notice of the bankruptcy petition and but failed to cease its account withdraw.  We filed suit on behalf of the debtor in bankruptcy court for violation of the bankruptcy automatic stay and for Fair Debt Collection Practice Act (FDCPA) claims.

Settlement took place very quickly as the defendant knew that they had no defense to their actions and a confidential settlement was reached for $7,000 in April 2012.