Eleventh Circuit Rules Managing Member of Debt Collection Company Personally Liable for FTC Act Violations

Courts Consumer Finance FTC Debt Collection

In a ruling handed down on February 10 by an Eleventh Circuit panel in FTC v. Williams, Scott & Associates, LLC, 16-10063, an appellate panel held that a district court acted within its discretion in finding that the managing member of a debt collection company was jointly and severally liable for the amount of net revenue that the company had received while he was involved with the company. The Appellate Court noted, among other things, that the managing member had posed as a law enforcement official seeking payments for debts that consumers did not owe or debts that the company had no authority to collect. Furthermore, in determining the amount for which the individual defendant should be liable, the Appellate Court affirmed the district court’s holding that the total amount of net revenue earned—as opposed to profit—is the correct measure of unjust gains under section 13(b). The Appellate Court noted further that “the disgorgement amount must be limited to the time frame for which the party seeking disgorgement presented evidence of the defendant’s bad acts.”

A copy of the Amended Complaint filed with the district court can be found here.