Florida licensed community association managers (a/k/a LCAMS) and management companies can take great comfort knowing that on December 19, 2012, the 11th Federal Judicial Circuit Court of Appeals, with jurisdiction over federal cases originating in the states of Alabama, Florida and Georgia, firmly established that community association managers and management companies are not “debt collectors” within the confines of the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (the “FDCPA”).
In Angela Harris v. Liberty Community Management, Inc., the court for the 11th Circuit explained, “the FDCPA, imposes civil liability on debt collectors for certain prohibited debt collection practices, but also exempts some individuals and entities from its provisions. The exemption at issue in this appeal [set out in 15 U.S.C s. 1692a(6)(F)(i)], provides that the FDCPA does not apply to persons or entities “collecting or attempting to collect any debt owed . . . another to the extent such activity is incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation,” and the question presented is whether this exemption applies to a management company which collects unpaid assessments on behalf of a homeowners association.” The court held that, “it does, so long as the collection of such assessments from homeowners is not central to the management company’s fiduciary obligations.”
Central to the court’s reasoning was the fiduciary relationship of the manager in favor of the association and that the efforts to collect the Association’s past due assessments was incidental to a myriad of other important management duties. Therefore, a carefully crafted management agreement that both i) spells out the management’s fiduciary duties and ii) lists out many of manager’s duties will help further solidify that neither the manager nor the management company are “debt collectors” within the meaning of the FDCPA which will keep the management company from being subjected to the harsh financial penalties of the FDCPA.
Nevertheless, state law still applies. Chapter 559, Florida Statutes, contains the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act. It applies to “all persons”, and that means pretty much everyone involved in collecting a debt, even association managers. Amongst this Act’s many provisions, in collecting consumer debts, it is a violation for any person to:
- Disclose to a person other than the debtor or her or his family information affecting the debtor’s reputation, whether or not for credit worthiness, with knowledge or reason to know that the other person does not have a legitimate business need for the information or that the information is false.
- Disclose information concerning the existence of a debt known to be reasonably disputed by the debtor without disclosing that fact (that the debt is under dispute).
- Willfully communicate with the debtor or any member of her or his family with such frequency as can reasonably be expected to harass the debtor or her or his family, or willfully engage in other conduct which can reasonably be expected to abuse or harass the debtor or any member of her or his family.
- Use profane, obscene, vulgar, or willfully abusive language in communicating with the debtor or any member of her or his family. Use or threaten force or violence.
- Claim, attempt, or threaten to enforce a debt when such person knows that the debt is not legitimate, or assert the existence of some other legal right when such person knows that the right does not exist.
- Use a communication that simulates in any manner legal or judicial process or that gives the appearance of being authorized, issued, or approved by a government, governmental agency, or attorney at law, when it is not.
- Publish or post, threaten to publish or post, or cause to be published or posted before the general public, individual names or any list of names of debtors, commonly known as a deadbeat list, for the purpose of enforcing or attempting to enforce collection of consumer debts.
- Mail any communication to a debtor in an envelope or postcard with words typed, written, or printed on the outside of the envelope or postcard calculated to embarrass the debtor. An example of this would be an envelope addressed to “Deadbeat, Jane Doe” or “Deadbeat, John Doe.”
- Communicate with the debtor between the hours of 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. in the debtor’s time zone without the prior consent of the debtor.