Opinion
No. 06-4670.
September 28, 2007.
On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
Cynthia G. Lamar appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Lerner, Sampson Rothfuss, L.P.A., rejecting her claim that the Lerner law firm violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., when it included the notice required under the Act with the summons and complaint that it served on her. A recent decision by another panel of our court, see Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. v. Lamar, 503 F.3d 504 (6th Cir. 2007), governs this appeal. Save for the fact that the earlier case involved a different mortgage from the one at issue here, it parallels this case in every other material respect: It involves the same primary parties, the same key facts, the same complaints and the same defenses. See JA 75 (district court stating that "the claims raised here are identical to those raised [in Case No. 06-4335]"); id. at 117 n. 1 (Lamar acknowledging that the two cases present "identical issues"). In the earlier case, our court affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment for LS R, concluding that "LS R effectively conveyed notice of Lamar's right to dispute the validity of her debt." Lamar, 503 F.3d at 506. Because that panel's decision was filed prior to this opinion, we are bound by it. See Salmi v. Sec'y of Health Human Servs., 774 F.2d 685, 689 (6th Cir. 1985). Accordingly, for the reasons set forth in that panel's opinion, we affirm.