Opinion
3:21-cv-937-MMH-JBT
09-27-2021
NEREIDA CINTRON, Plaintiff, v. CREDIT CONTROL SERVICES, INC. d/b/a CREDIT COLLECTION SERVICES, Defendant.
The Honorable Merrick Garland Attorney General of the United States U.S. Department of Justice
The Honorable Merrick Garland
Attorney General of the United States
U.S. Department of Justice
ORDER
MARCIA MORALES HOWARD, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
THIS CAUSE is before the Court on Defendant Credit Control Services, Inc.'s Notice of Constitutional Challenge (Doc. 6; Notice), filed on September 23, 2021. Pursuant to Rule 5.1(a)(1), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Rule(s)), Defendant provides notice that it has filed a pleading which calls into question the constitutionality of 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(b). Specifically, in the Answer with Affirmative Defenses to Plaintiff's Complaint by Defendant, Credit Control Services, Inc. (Doc. 5; Answer), Defendant raises the following constitutional challenges:
To the extent that 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(b) does not permit debt collectors to use print-and-mail vendors, that prior restraint on speech serves no legitimate or compelling governmental interest;
therefore, the prohibition violates the First Amendment, U.S. Const. Amend. I.
If the FDCPA permits a debt collector to use Western Union to transmit correspondence to a consumer but not to use a print-and mail vendor to perform the same service, then 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(b) is void for vagueness in violation of the Fifth Amendment, U.S. Const. amend. V.See Answer at 14-15 (Seventeenth and Eighteenth Affirmative Defense). Accordingly, pursuant to Rule 5.1(b) and 28 U.S.C. § 2403(a), the Court certifies that a challenge to the constitutionality of 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(b) is at issue in this case and directs the Clerk of the Court to provide a copy of this certification to the Attorney General of the United States. Pursuant to Rule 5.1(c), the Attorney General shall have up to and including November 22, 2021, to intervene in this action.
DONE AND ORDERED.