Sue Debt Collector for lost lawsuit

[Hellsbellsidaho]

Jurisdiction

Idaho

If sued by a debt collector in small claims and that debt collector losses can they be sued for the time the debt was on my credit report since the court found the debt to be invalid?

 

[zddoodah]

can they be sued for the time the debt was on my credit report since the court found the debt to be invalid?

Anyone can be sued for anything. If you sue, you will be required to prove every element of a recognized cause of action, including damages resulting from whatever legal wrong you allege.

 

[adjusterjack]

If sued by a debt collector in small claims and that debt collector losses can they be sued for the time the debt was on my credit report since the court found the debt to be invalid?

If you had any monetary damages you should have counter sued. You may have waived that option by not doing it as part of the lawsuit.

 

[Tax Counsel]

If sued by a debt collector in small claims and that debt collector losses can they be sued for the time the debt was on my credit report since the court found the debt to be invalid?

The standard for reporting to the credit bureau is that the creditor "shall not furnish any information relating to a consumer to any consumer reporting agency if the person knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the information is inaccurate." 5 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(a)(1)(A). So the issue here is whether the debt collector knew before the lawsuit decision that the debt was invalid. It may well have thought the debt was good, and unless it had information that would cause a reasonable person to have doubts about that, it would be entitled to make that report to the credit bureau. If you sue, you'd have the burden to prove that the debt collector knew or had reasonable to believe that the information was not accurate. Do you have any evidence to indicate that it knew or should have known that the debt was invalid?

Of course, after losing the lawsuit (taking into account any rights to appeal) the debt collector must update the credit report to remove the inaccurate report.

 

[Tax Counsel]

If you had any monetary damages you should have counter sued. You may have waived that option by not doing it as part of the lawsuit.

That would not have been a mandatory counter claim here.