Nielsen v. Dickerson’s Empirical Analysis
307 F.3d 623 · 2002
Citation profile
19 federal appellate · 5 district ·
Relationships
Relies on Lewis v. ACB Business Services, Inc. · Clomon v. Jackson · Pennsylvania Department of Corrections v. Yeskey · Baker v. G. C. Services Corp. · Avila v. Rubin
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 52 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[A] debt collection letter that is issued on an attorney's letterhead ... conveys the notion that the attorney has "directly controlled or supervised the process through which the letter was sent"-i.e., that he has assessed the validity of the debt, is prepared to take legal action to collect on that debt, and has ... decided that a letter should be sent to the debtor conveying that message. ... "If a debt collector ... wants to take advantage of the special connotation of the word 'attorney' in the minds of delinquent consumer debtors[,] ... the debt collector should at least ensure that an attorney has become professionally involved in the debtor's file. Any other result would sanction the wholesale licensing of an attorney's name for commercial purposes, in derogation of professional standards ...."”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[A] debt collection letter that is issued on an attorney's letterhead and over his signature conveys the notion that the attorney has directly controlled or supervised the process through which the letter was sent - i.e., that he assessed the validity of the debt, is prepared to take legal action to collect on that debt, and has, accordingly, decided that a letter should be sent to the debtor conveying that message. The attorney letter implies that the attorney has reached a considered, professional judgment that the debtor is delinquent and is a candidate for legal action.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“A debt collector may not be held liable in any action brought under this sub-chapter if the debt collector shows by a preponderance of evidence that the violation was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adapted to avoid any such error.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.