Citations
- 114 F. Supp. 3d 1342
Full opinion text
ORDER
AMY TOTENBERG, District Judge.
Frederick J. Hanna & Associates, P.C. (the “Firm”) is a self-proclaimed creditors’ rights law firm. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the “Bureau”), from 2009 through 2013; the Firm’s small group of lawyers filed tens of thousands of lawsuits in Georgia each year to recover on allegedly defaulted debt. The Bureau alleges, however, that the Firm’s lawyers have essentially no meaningful involvement in these lawsuits. Moreover, according to the Bureau, in these debt-collection lawsuits, the Firm’s lawyers rely on affidavits, which the Firm and its three partners named in this case knew or should have known were executed by a person without personal knowledge of the facts contained in those affidavits. For these reasons, the Bureau lodges claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq. and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (“CFPA”), 12 U.S.C. § 5536.
Defendants move to dismiss the Complaint [Doc. 20]. With the benefit of oral argument and for the reasons that follow, the Court DENIES Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss.
I. Legal Standard
A complaint should be dismissed under Rule 12(b)(6) only where it appears that the facts alleged fail to state a “plausible” claim for relief. Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555-556, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007); Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). The plaintiff need only give the defendant fair notice of the plaintiffs claim and the grounds upon which it rests. See Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 93, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007) (citing Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)); Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a). In ruling on a motion to dismiss, the court must accept the facts alleged in the complaint as true and construe them- in the. light most favorable to the plaintiff. See Hill v. White, 321 F.3d 1334, 1335 (11th Cir.2003).
A claim is plausible where the plaintiff alleges factual content that “allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). A plaintiff is not required to provide “detailed factual allegations” to survive dismissal, but the “obligation to provide the ‘grounds’ of his ‘entitle[ment] to relief requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. The plausibility standard requires that a plaintiff allege sufficient facts “to raise a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence” that supports the plaintiffs claim. Id. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955. A complaint may survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim even if it is “improbable” that a plaintiff would be able to prove those facts and even if the possibility of recovery is extremely “remote and unlikely.” Id.
II. Background
According to the allegations in the Complaint, since January 1, 2009, the Firm has collected or attempted to collect debts for several credit-card issuers and “debt buyers.” (Compl. ¶ 12.) In the course of its debt collection practice, the Firm routinely files thousands of lawsuits each year. (Id. ¶ 13.) The Bureau estimates that “in Georgia alone, the Firm sued about 78,000 consumers in 2009; about 84,000' in 2010; about 71,000 in 2011; about 57,000 in 2012; and about 60,000 in 2013.” The total estimated number of collection suits from 2009 through 2013 (the “Georgia Collection Suits”) topped 350,000.
The Bureau maintains that, although the Georgia Collection Suits “may have featured the signatures of attorneys,” these lawsuits were in fact “prepared and filed without meaningful attorney involvement” in either the decision to initiate the lawsuit or in the preparation of the pleadings. (Id. ¶¶ 17, 28.) To support this assertion, the Bureau points to a number of facts. For example, during the relevant time, the Firm allegedly employed hundreds of non-attorney staff but only between 8 and 16 attorneys. (Id. ¶ 14.)' The Firm then delegated to the non-áttorneys many important responsibilities including determining whether a case was “suit worthy,” determining the alleged principal, interest, and attorneys’ fees owed, and actually drafting complaints. (Id. ¶ 16.) The Bureau further alleges that the Firm’s attorneys routinely relied on “an automated system and support-staff research” to determine (1) “whether consumers had sought relief in bankruptcy”; (2) “whether their debts were barred by limitations”; and (3) “legally significant facts such as each consumer’s date of initial contract and the date the consumer last made a payment.” (Id.)
Once the Firm delegated these tasks to nón-attorney staff or automated systems, the few attorneys on staff were allegedly left to essentially skim and sign the prepared pleadings. The Firm’s attorneys thus allegedly gave “only cursory review to” the suits the Firm was filing, “checking the pleadings prepared by non-attorney support staff for grammar and spelling errors.” (Id. ¶ 18.) The alleged expectation was that the lawyer would spend “no more than one minute reviewing and signing the pleadings prepared by support staff.” (Id.) This' makes sense, given the alleged ratio of the volume of lawsuits filed to the number of attorneys at the Firm. In 2009 and 2010, for instance, the Firm allegedly arranged for one attorney to sign about 138,000 lawsuits, averaging about 1,300 collection suits each week. (Id: ¶ 15.) Assuming' this one attorney did nothing but review and sign collection suits for eight hours a day, five days per week, for every week of the year without vacation, the lawyer would literally have less than a minute to approve each suit. (See id.) For these reasons, the Bureau alleges that the “Firm’s attorneys-did not exercise independent professional judgment in determining whether to file the Georgia Collection Suits or what remedies to seek.” (Id. ¶ 18.)
Moreover, according to thé Bureau, the Firm routinely relied on affidavits that its lawyers knew or should have known were executed by persons who lacked personal knowledge of the facts. {Id. ¶ 23.) Specifically, in support of many of the, Georgia Collection Suits, the Firm allegedly offered an affidavit of a person who attested to personal knowledge of the. validity and ownership of the debt. {Id.) For those affidavits received from its debt-buyer clients (as opposed to its creditor clients), the Firm allegedly “did not determine whether any underlying documentation for the debt was available.” {Id. ¶ 24.) The Firm also allegedly failed to “review the contracts governing the sale of accounts to determine whether those contracts disclaimed any warranties regarding the accuracy or validity of the debts.” {Id. ¶ 24.) Along the same vein, the Bureau also alleges that “Defendants filed the Georgia Collection Suits without investigating or verifying support for the suits, including whether the facts alleged were true.” {Id. ¶ 20.)
Apparently, the Firm’s Georgia Collection Suits were largely successful. According to the Bureau, most cases ended in a default judgment or settlement. {Id. ¶ 21.) However, in those few cases where the consumer responded to the lawsuit, the Firm routinely dismissed the cases. {Id. ¶ 22.) The Bureau reports that since 2009, the Firm voluntarily dismisses about 155 cases each week. {Id.) The Bureau does not allege the reason for these voluntary dismissals. But the Bureau notes that “consumers who retained attorneys were almost four times more likely to have their cases dismissed.” {Id.) .
The Bureau argues that the Firm’s litigation practices violate the FDCPA and CFPA in two ways. First, the Bureau argues that the filing of the Georgia Collection Suits, signed by attorneys, falsely conveyed to .consumers that an attorney was meaningfully involved in preparing or filing the case. According to the Bureau, this false implication violates (1) Section 807 of the FDCPA, and specifically 807(3), which prohibits “the false representation or implication that ... any communication is from an attorney,” 15 U.S.C. § 1692e(3), and (2) the CFPA’s prohibition against “any unfair, deceptive, or abusive act or practice.” 12 U.S.C. § 5536(a)(1)(B). Second, the Bureau contends that the use of affidavits, which the Defendants knew or should have known were unsupported by personal knowledge, also violates several provisions of the' FDCPA, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692e(2)(A), (10), and 1692f, and the same provision of the CFPA identified above. The Bureau overall contends that the Defendants used false or deceptive representations in their consumer collection debt litigation.
III. Analysis
Defendants raise several arguments in support of their Motion to Dismiss. First, Defendants assert that the “practice-of-law exclusion” in the CFPA, 12 U.S.C. § 5517(e), bars enforcement of the CFPA-claims here. Second, Defendants argue that the Bureau’s claims should be dismissed on constitutional grounds because (1) they infringe on Defendants’ First Amendment right to petition the courts for redress and (2) they violate the Equal Protection clause by impeding debt-collection lawyers’ fundamental right of access to the courts. Third, Defendants argue that the Complaint fails to state a claim for relief premised on either an alleged lack of meaningful attorney involvement in the filing of complaints or the Firm’s filing affidavits which they knew or should have known were signed by affiants without personal knowledge of material facts averred in the affidavit. And finally, Defendants urge the Court to limit recovery for the FDCPA claims to the extent they are barred by a one-year statute of .limitations.
A. CFPA Practice-of-law exclusion
Defendants first argue that the CFPA’s “practice-of-law” exclusion, found in § 1027(e) and codified at 12 U.S.C. § 5517(e)(1), precludes the Bureau’s CFPA claims brought against the Defendants. To be clear, the practice-of-law exclusion does not apply to the FDCPA claims. See 12 U.S.C. § 5517(e)(8) (“Paragraph (1) shall not be construed as to limit the authority of the Bureau with respect to any attorney, to the extent that such attorney is otherwise subject to any of the enumerated consumer laws or the authorities transferred under subtitle F or H.”); 12 U.S.C. § 5481(12)(H) (defining “enumerated consumer laws” to include the FDCPA); see also Heintz v. Jenkins, 514 U.S. 291, 294, 115 S.Ct. 1489, 131 L.Ed.2d 395 (1995) (holding that the FDCPA “applies to attorneys who ‘regularly engage in consumer-debt-collection activity, even when that activity consists of litigation”); Miljkovic v. Shafritz and Dinkin, P.A. et at., 791 F.3d 1291, 1297-98 (11th Cir.2015) (holding that the FDCPA applies to litigation activity Of lawyers and all documents they file in Court including affidavits, “categorically prohibiting abusive conduct in the name of debt collection” even when the consumer’s counsel is the targeted audience).
The Bureau responds to the Defendants’ practice-of-law defense by arguing that an “exception” to this exclusion unambiguously applies in this case, providing a carve-out for the Bureau to bring, its CFPA claims against Defendants here. After a thorough consideration of the parties’ positions, and with the benefit of oral argument, the Court concludes that the practice-of-law . exclusion does not bar the Bureau’s CFPA claims..
“As with any question of statutory interpretation, [the Court] begin[s] by examining the text of the statute to determine whether its meaning is clear.” Lindley v. F.D.I.C., 733 F.3d 1043 (11th Cir.2013) (citing Harry v. Marchant, 291 F.3d 767, 770 (11th Cir.2002)). The Court’s analysis stops at a review of the text of a statute “if the statutory language is unambiguous and the statutory scheme is coherent and consistent.” Med. Transp. Mgmt. Corp. v. Comm’r of IRS, 506 F.3d 1364, 1368 (11th Cir.2007). If the statutory language may be reasonably interpreted in more than one way, however, the statutory language is deemed ambiguous and additional tools of statutory interpretation should be used. Id. Only “in rare and exceptional circumstances” may a court “decline to follow the plain meaning of a statute because overwhelming extrinsic evidence demonstrates a legislative, intent contrary to the text’s plain meaning.” Boca Ciega Hotel, Inc. v. Bouchard Transp. Co., Inc., 51 F.3d 235, 238 (11th Cir.1995).
The CFPA’s practice-of-law' exclusion begins with a broad limitation on the Bureau’s authority. Under § 5517(e)(1), “[e]xcept as provided under paragraph (2), the Bureau may not exercise any supervisory or enforcement authority with respect to an activity engaged in by an attorney as part of the practice of law under the laws of a State in which the attorney is licensed to practice law.” 12 U.S.C. § 5517(e)(1). This sweeping language encompasses the Firm’s alleged activities here — the filing of a lawsuit and the filing of affidavits in connection with a lawsuit — as these are undoubtedly “activities] engaged in by an attorney as part of the practice of law.” Id.; see State ex rel. Doyle v. Frederick J. Hanna & Assocs., P.C., 287 Ga. 289, 695 S.E.2d 612, 615 (2010) (“[T]he manner in which support is used and managed in the-representation of clients is part of the actual practice of law.-...”) (holding the Administrator of the Fair Business Practices Act (“FBPA”) could not investigate Frederick J. Hanna & Associates’s day-today operations .because such investigation amounts to an impermissible regulation of the practice of law in the state). And the Bureau did not dispute, either in its response brief or at oral argument, that the Firm’s practices at issue in this case constitute the practice of law under the law of Georgia. (See Resp. at 4-6.)
However, at the outset, - the practice-of-law exclusion also contemplates that some activities engaged in by attorneys “as part of the practice of law” may nonetheless be regulated by the Bureau. See 12 U.S.C. § 5517(e)(1). Accordingly, the statute-provides two exceptions to the practice-of-law exclusion in subparagraph (2):
Paragraph (1) shall not be construed so-as to limit the exercise by the Bureau of any supervisory, enforcement, or other authority regarding the offering or provision of a consumer financial product or service described in any subpara-graph of section 5481(5) of this title—
(A) that is not offered or provided as' part of, or incidental to, the practice of law, occurring- exclusively within the scope of the attorney-client relationship; or
(B) that is otherwise offered or provided by the attorney in question with respect to any consumer who is not receiving legal advite or services from the attorney in connection with such financial product or servitt.
12 U.S.C. § 5517(e)(2) (emphasis added).
Although cumbersome, once unpacked, subparagraph (2)(B) unambiguously includes the conduct at issue here and thus provides a carve-out for the Bureau to bring its CFPA claims. First, to fall within the exceptions to the practice-of-law exclusion, the activity must involve “the offering or provision of a consumer financial product or service.” The CFPA expressly defines a “consume!1 financial product or service” to include “collecting debt related to any consumer financial product or service.” 12 U.S.C. § 5481(15)(x); see 12 U.S.C. § 5481(5)(A). And this definition more specifically includes the act of collecting personal credit-card debt, see 12 U.S.C. § 5481(15)(i)-, which the Firm allegedly engages in. Thus, the filing of a lawsuit, the purpose of which is to collect on such a debt, is debt collection activity. See also Heintz v. Jenkins, 514 U.S. 291, 294, 115 S.Ct. 1489, 131 L.Ed.2d 395 (1995) (“In ordinary English, a lawyer who regularly tries to obtain payment of consumer debts through legal proceedings is a lawyer who regularly ‘attempts’ to ‘collect’ those consumer debts.”) (citing Black’s Law Dictionary 264 (6th ed. 1990) (“To collect a debt or claim is to obtain payment or liquidation of it, either by personal solicitation or legal proceedings.”)).-
The statute then provides two, categories of activities that are not excluded from the Bureau’s authority. 12 U.S.C. § 5517(e)(2)(A)-(B). The first, under sub-paragraph (2)(A), does hot apply here but is nonetheless informative. Subparagraph (2)(A) preserves the Bureau’s ability to exercise its authority “regarding the offering or provision of a consumer financial product or service ... that is not offered or provided as part of, or incidental to, the practice of law, occurring exclusively within the scope of the attorney-client relationship.” Id. § 5517(e)(2)(A). Thus, the Bureau could, for example, exert its authority over an attorney’s debt collection practices so long as such practices are not part of the attorney’s law practice occurring exclusively within the scope of his attorney-client relationship. An attorney who engages in pure debt collection activity, completely outside of the practice of law, would be susceptible to the Bureau’s authority. See, e.g., Consumer Fin. Protection Bur. v. ITT Educ. Servs., Inc., — F.Supp.3d-,-, No. 1:14-cv-00292-SEB-TAB, 2015 WL 1013508, at n. 29 (S.D.Ind. Mar. 6, 2015) (recognizing that under subparagraph (e)(2)(A), “the CFPA could bring suit against a law firm engaged in the provision of financial products or services”). The alleged CFPA violations here, however, arise out of litigation activities offered as part of Defendants’ practice of law which arguably occur exclusively within the Firm’s relationship with its clients. Accordingly, the Buread does not argue that Defendants’ conduct falls within the first exception to the practice-of-law exclusion.
Subparagraph (2)(B), on the other hand, encompasses the Firm’s alleged conduct. Under Subparagraph (2)(B), the Bureau may exert its authority over an attorney’s debt collection practice “that is otherwise offered or provided by the attorney in question with respect to any consumer who is not receiving legal advice or services from the attorney in connection with such financial product or service.” 12 U.S.C. § 5517(e)(2)(B). Here, the debt-collection acts of filing a breach of contract lawsuit and litigating that suit are acts provided to the Firm’s creditor clients “with respect to” consumers who themselves do “not reeeive[] legal advice or services from the attorney.” Id. The plain terms of this exception to the practice-of-law exclusion allow the Bureau to bring a CFPA claim here.
At oral argument, counsel for Defendants proposed, for the first time, that four words within subparagraph (2)(B) dictate a different result. (See June 5, 2015 Oral Arg. Tr. (Oral Arg. Tr. at 6-9, Doc. 38).) These four words, emphasized below, are “otherwise,” “the” and “in question.”
Paragraph (1) shall not be construed so as to limit the exercise by the Bureau of any supervisory, enforcement, or other authority regarding the offering or provision of a consumer financial product or service described in any subparagraph of section 5481(5) of this title—
(A) that is not offered or provided as part of, or incidental to, the practice of law, occurring exclusively within the scope of the attorney-client relationship; or
(B) that is otherwise offered or provided by the attorney in question with respect to any consumer who is not receiving legal advice or services from the attorney in connection with such financial product or service.
12 U.S.C. § 5517(e)(2)(B). According to Defendants, the term “otherwise” refers to the attorney-client relationship identified just above it in subparagraph (2)(A). Likewise, Defendants argue that the phrase “the attorney in question” refers to the attorney referenced subparagraph (A). Thus, according to Defendants, the conduct in (B) is in fact a subcategory of (A). .Defendants finally observe that, in the Bureau’s discussion of the practice-of-law exclusion in the preamble to its Final Consumer Debt Collection Rule — wherein the Bureau interprets § 5517(e)(2)(B) to allow it to exert its authority over attorney debt-collectors who engage in litigation activity — the Bureau strategically omits these four words. See 77 Fed.Reg. 65775-01, 65784 (Oct. 21, 2012). Suggesting a nefarious motive, Defendants counsel explains, “They falsely stated the statute and then falsely stated to this Court .what they were basing their interpretation on.” (Oral Arg. Tr. at 9.) According to Defendants, omitting these four words “totally changefs]” the meaning of § 5517(e)(2)(B). (Oral Arg. Tr. at 8.)
Although Defendants’ point was zealously advanced at oral argument, it is not persuasive. While Defendants argue that the omission of the four words identified above totally changes the meaning of the subsection, Defendants do not explain precisely how the meaning is totally changed. They suggest that the conduct in subsection (B) is simply a subcategory of the conduct covered in (A), but they fail to articulate how their proposal makes sense given that the two subsections, are provided in the^ disjunctive as separate exceptions to the practice-of-law exclusion.
It is, on the other' hand, much easier to understand the statute’s use of the terms “otherwise” and “the attorney in question” to reference the introductory paragraph of §§ 5517(e)(2) and (e)(1) in a manner that is consistent with the Court’s decision that subparagraph (B) carves out the conduct at issue in this case. Subsection 5517(e)(2) introduces the .two exceptions by referring to the Bureau’s ability to exercise authority over “the offering or provision of a consumer financial product or service.” Thus, § 5517(e)(2)(B) refers to anything not covered in (A) but “otherwise offered or provided” by an attorney. And “the attorney in question” must refer to the attorney referenced in the practice-of-law exclusion in (e)(1). Subsection 5517(e)(1) articulates the general exclusion for the practice of law, stating that, except as provided in the two exceptions in subpara-graphs (e)(2)(A) and (B), the Bureau may not exercise its authority “with respect to an activity engaged in by an attorney as part of the practice of law.” 12 U.S.C. § 5517(e)(1) (emphasis added). The “attorney-in-question is therefore whichever attorney is engaged in the practice of law whose conduct is at issue. On the other hand, subparagraph (2)(A) makes no mention of a specific attorney in question. The graphic below summarizes, this analysis, and for these reasons, the Court rejects Defendants’ argument based on the four words identified above.
(e) Exclusion for practice of law
(1) In general
Except as provided under paragraph (2), the Bureau may not exercise any supervisory or enforcement authority with respect to an activity engaged in by an attorney as part of the practice of law under the laws of a State iff which the attorney is licensed to practice law. , • \
(2) Rule of construction \ . ,
Paragraph (1) shall not be construed so as touimit the exercise by the Bureau of any supervisory, enforcement, or other authority regarding the offering or provision of a consumer financial product or service described in any subparagraph of section 5/81(5) of this title— \
(A) that is not offered dr provided as part of, or incidental to, the practice of law, occurring exclusively within the\scope of the attorney-client relationship; or \
(B) that is otherwise offered or provided by the attorney in question with respect to any consumer who is not receiving legal advice or services from the attorney in connection with such financial product or service.
Defendants next argue that the Bureau’s proposed reading of the statute ignores the statutory context of the practice-of-law exclusion. (Reply at 5.) Defendants accurately report that the exclusion is “broad and sweeping,” applying at the outset to all activity “engaged in by an attorney as part of the practice of law.” (id. (citing 12 U.S.C. § 5517(e)(1)).) But Defendants offer no meaningful way to narrow the exception to this exclusion in subparagraph (2)(B), which as noted above is broad enough to encompass the debt-collection practices at isshe here. Defendants' instead simply announce that the exceptions “pertain to conduct on the fringe of what some may argue is ‘the practice of law.’ ” (Id. at 6.) While perhaps subparagraph (2)(A) refers to such “fringe” conduct, the statute contains no textual support for reading this interpretation into subpara-graph (2)(B) as well.
Defendants finally argue that if Congress had wanted to “immunize only lawyers- who represent consumers,” which is essentially the outcome of the Bureau’s proposed interpretation of subparagraph (2)(B), Congress could have been clearer. (Reply at 6.) Maybe so. But simply because subparagraph ' (2)(B) is complexly worded, does not mean the Court should disregard its plain meaning. The Court rejects Defendants suggestion that excepting cases such as the one here from the practice-of-law’ exclusion would be the equivalent of hiding an elephant in a mou-sehole. (Reply at 6 (quoting Whitman v. Am. Trucking Ass’ns, 531 U.S. 457, 468, 121 S.Ct. 903, 149 L.Ed.2d 1 (2001)).) This couldn’t be further from the truth. The CFPA is a consumer protection statute which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Bureau’s primary purpose is to “enforce Federal financial law consistently” and “ensur[e] that all consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services and that markets for consumer financial products and services are fair, transparent, and competitive.” 12., U.S.C.. § 5511(a). Allowing the Bureau, to enforce its CFPA authority over debt-collection attorneys engaged in litigation activity is fully consistent with this purpose, (see also infra Part III.A), as well as Congress’s recognition of the debt collection litigation as activity covered under the FDCPA, one of the chief statutes enforced by the Bureau via the CFPA. Miljkovic, 791 F.3d at 1298-1301.
Because the statute is clear, “we need not resort to legislative history, and we. certainly should-not do so to undermine the plain meaning of the statutory language.” Harris v. Garner, 216 F.3d 970, 976 (11th Cir.2000) (en banc). The Court nonetheless briefly addresses Defendants’ argument that the statement of one legislator in a conference report evinces Congress’s intent to exclude Defendants’ conduct from CFPA liability here.
Defendants direct the Court to Representative John Conyers’s conference report issued shortly before the law’s passage. Representative Conyers was then the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, a committee which according to Conyers, was “instrumentally involved in shaping” several provisions including the Practice of Law Exclusion. Conference Report on H.R. 4173, Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, ■ Speech of Hon. John Conyers, J. of Michigan, 156 Cong. Rec. E1347-01, 1348-49 (2010). Conyers recognized that “because of the breadth of the authority being given the Bureau, including the definitions of ‘covered person’ and ‘financial product or service,’ and the complexities of the practice of law, there was a concern about potential overlap.” Id. Conyers made clear that Congress did not intend to allow the Bureau to regulate the practice of law, which should'be left to the state supreme courts and the ethical codes and disciplinary rules governing all aspects of the practice of law. Id.
Accordingly, our .Committee worked to make clear that the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau established in the bill is not being given authority to regulate the practice of law, which is regulated by the State or States in which the attorney in question is licensed to practice. At the same time, the Committee worked to clarify that this protection for the practice of law is not intended to preclude the new Bureau from regulating other conduct engaged in by individuals who happen to be attorneys or to be acting under their direction, if the conduct is not part of the practice of law or incidental to the practice of law.
Id, Defendants argue that this is evidence of Congress’s intent to preclude the Bureau from bringing the CFPA claims here.
Mr. Conyers’s full statement of Congressional intent regarding the practice-of-law exclusion, however, is at most ambiguous when it comes to the specific conduct alleged in this case; On one hand, Mr. Conyers’s, use of sweeping language, such as stating that the Bureau was not to be “given authority to regulate the practice of law,” suggests a desire to keep th'e Bureau out of the practice of law entirely. See also id. (suggesting that anything that is “part of or .incidental to the practice of law” should be “excluded from the Bureau’s authority”). .,
On the other hand, Mr. Conyers appears to recognize — as the statute does — that even some activities that are “considered part of the practice of law by the State supreme court or other governing body that is regulating the practice of law in the State in question” may nonetheless be regulated by the Bureau. Id. Mr. Conyers explains that, in order to be free of the Bureau’s oversight, a lawyer’s actions not only need to be classified- as part of the practice of law, but the lawyer’s conduct also “must be engaged in exclusively within the scope of the attorney-client relationship; and the product or service must not be offered by or under direction of the attorney in question with respect to any consumer who is not receiving legal advice or services from the attorney in connection with it.” Id. These are essentially the exact exceptions identified in the statute, and according to Conyers, they are intendr ed to offer “further protection against abuse.” Id.
Moreover, Mr. Conyers’s statements appear singularly focused on attorneys who represent consumers. Mr. Conyers- prefaces his remarks by focusing within “the myriad activities engaged in as part of the practice of law” on those activities which “assist consumer clients in resolving serious debt problems, including but by no means limited to representing them in bankruptcy proceedings.” Id. Later, Co-nyers 'explains that Congress wished to avoid causing “material harm to consumer clients of bankruptcy lawyers, consumer lawyers, and real estate lawyers — the very consumers the'Bureau is being created to protect.” Id. And Conyers does not men-tioh'at any point a concern about creditor-attorneys’ practice of law. See id; see also 77 Fed.Reg. 65775-01, 65784 (noting that Conyers’s remarks focused on attorneys who provide legal services to consumers and did not address lawyers who act on behalf of commercial clients).
And finally, the Court must understand Mr. Conyers’s statements, and indeed the practice-of-law exclusion itself, within the context of the larger CFPA and even larger. Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act), of which, the CFPA was one part. The Dodd-Frank Act endeavored to, among other things, “protect consumers from abusive financial services practices.” Pub.L. 111-203, 124 Stat 1376 (July 21, 2010). To further this purpose, the Dodd-Frank Act established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and instructed the Bureau “to implement and, where applicable, enforce Federal consumer financial law consistently for the purpose of ensuring that all consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services and that markets for consumer financial products and services are fair,, transparent, and competitive.” 12 U.S.C. § 5511. Thus, Mr. Conyers’s statements, and the practice of law exclusion, must be viewed in the context of a proactive, consumer protection statutory scheme — one in which a carve-out to the practice-of-law exclusion for the conduct at issue in this case makes complete sense.
Defendants finally urge the Court to reject the Bureau’s interpretation of the exception to the practice-of-law exclusion because of a purported “tradition” of leaving the regulation of the practice of law to the states. Defendants rely primarily on a decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for the proposition that the regulation of the practice of law “is traditionally, the province of the states,” and thus, if Congress were to disrupt this traditional separation of authority, it would need to be clearer. (Mot. Dismiss at 8-9, 13 (citing Am. Bar Ass’n v. Fed. Trade Comm’n, 430 F.3d 457, 471 (D.C.Cir.2005) (ABA)).) In ABA, the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association (the “Bar Associations”) sought a declaratory judgment that the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) was not authorized under the Gramm-Leaeh-Blieley Act (“GLBA”) to regulate the confidentiality, privacy and security of information disclosed by clients to their attorneys. ABA, 430 F.3d at 466. The Bar Associations argued that the GLBA — which regulates financial institutions — was not meant to regulate the practice of law in any way.
The D.C. Court of Appeals agreed. The Court of Appeals recognized that “[ljike the statute, the regulations at no point describe the statutory or regulatory scheme as governing the practice of law as such.” Id. at 456. The court then noted the broad manner in which the term “financial institutions” is defined in the statute, but relying on, among things, Congress’s centuries-long abstention from regulating the practice of law, held that the GLBA did not cover attorneys engaged in the practice of law. Defendants argue that this case stands for the proposition-that, for Congress-to disrupt the traditional balance, it would need to do so more clearly than it has done in the CFPA.
This argument falls flat for two reasons. First, although as a general matter, the practice of law is regulated by the states, the federal government, with the United States Supreme Court’s approval, has historically regulated some aspects of the practice of law. In Heintz v. Jenkins, 514 U.S. 291, 294, 115 S.Ct. 1489, 131 L.Ed.2d 395 (1995), the Court held that lawyers engaged in litigation, who are also debt collectors, must still comply with terms of the Fair Debt _ Collection Practices Act. Heintz, 514 U.S. at 295-97, 115 S.Ct. 1489; see also Jerman v. Carlisle, McNellie, Rini, Kramer & Ulrich LPA, et al., 559 U.S. 573, 130 S.Ct. 1605, 176 L.Ed.2d 519 (2010) (recognizing that the “FDCPA imposes some constraints on a lawyer’s advocacy on behalf of a client”); Miljkovic, 791 F.3d at 1296-1301 (applying Heintz to all litigation activities of debt-collection attorneys, including sworn replies that are arguably procedural in nature); Stratton v. Portfolio Recovery Assocs., LLC, 770 F.3d 443, 451 (6th Cir.2014) (holding that a lawyer debt-collector violates the FDCPA by asserting a false representation regarding the character or amount of the debt, under § 1692e(2), even when such false statements are made in a legal complaint filed in court). And as the Bureau points out, Defendants “cite to no case holding that the regulation of the practice of law belongs exclusively to the states.” (Resp. at 7.) See also ABA, 430 F.3d at 472 (expressly stating that its holding was not meant to suggest that the federal government could not regulate the practice of law). Indeed, the Georgia Supreme Court has likewise recognized that “the State Bar is not the sole entity authorized to investigate a lawyer for engaging- in unfair debt collection practices.” State ex rel. Doyle v. Frederick J. Hanna & Associates, P.C., 287 Ga. 289, 695 S.E.2d 612, 615-16 (2010) (“Like the dissent, we recognize that the debt collection practices of attorneys “would be subject to investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, the regulatory entity responsible for enforcement of the FDCPA.’ ” (quoting Doyle, 695 S.E.2d at 620 (Melton, J., dissenting))).
Second, unlike the relevant statute and regulations in ABA — which do not even mention the practice of law — the CFPA expressly provides the Bureau a narrow scope of authority over lawyers engaged in activity that is otherwise part of the practice of law. See 12 U.S.C. § 5517(e)(1). The exceptions to the practice-of-law exclusion must mean something. Defendants offer no reasonable construction of subparagraph (e)(2)(B), and the ABA case does little to further their position.
Because the exception to the practice-of-law exclusion' unambiguously covers the alleged conduct here, § 5517(e)(1) does not bar the Bureau’s CFPA claims.
B. Constitutional Defenses
Defendants next raise twó constitutional defenses to the Bureau’s FDCPA and CFPA claims. First, Defendants argue that this case unconstitutionally infringes on their Fust Amendment right to petition the government for redress. Second, Defendants argue that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth Amendment prohibits the Bureau from imposing what amounts to additional burdens on their ability to file breach of contract lawsuits. Neither argument is persuasive.
1. Noerr-Pennington Doctrine and the Petition Clause
Defendants first invoke the Noerr-Pennington doctrine and their First Amendment right to petition the courts. The Noerr-Pennington doctrine, as originally articulated, provided that, because a person has a First Amendment right to petition the government for redress, he is immune from antitrust liability for his efforts to petition. See Prof'l Real Estate Investors, Inc. v. Columbia Pictures Indus., Inc., 508 U.S. 49, 56-57, 113 S.Ct. 1920, 123 L.Ed.2d 611 (1993). This doctrine has been extended to immunize defendants who exercise their First Amendment right to petition the government by resorting to administrative or judicial proceedings, both inside and outside the antitrust context. See Cal. Motor Transp. Co. v. Trucking Unlimited, 404 U.S. 508, 510, 92 S.Ct. 609, 30 L.Ed.2d 642 (1972); see, e.g., Sabal Palm Condos. of Pine Island Ridge Ass’n, Inc. v. Fischer, No. 12-60691, 2014 WL 988767, at *21-22 (S.D.Fla. Mar. 13, 2014) (recognizing that the Noerr-Pennington doctrine applies outside the antitrust context to lawsuits that allege a violation of the Fair Housing Act).
Nonetheless, several courts have considered and rejected the argument that the Noerr-Pennington doctrine extends even further to FDCPA claims brought against debt-collectors based on litigation activity. See Wise v. Zwicker & Assoc., P.C., 780 F.3d 710 n. 5 (6th Cir.2015); Basile v. Blatt, Hasenmiller, Leibsker & Moore LLC, 632 F.Supp.2d 842, 845-46 (N.D.Ill.2009) (collecting cases). These courts rely on the Supreme Court’s hold ing in Heintz, “which contemplated attorney liability under the FDCPA.” Basile, 632 F.Supp.2d at 846 (citing Heintz v. Jenkins, 514 U.S. 291, 115 S.Ct. 1489, 131 L.Ed.2d 395 (1995)). As noted above, in Heintz, the United States Supreme Court held that the FDCPA “applies to attorneys who ‘regularly’ engage in consumer-debt-collection activity, even when that activity consists of litigation.” Heintz, 514 U.S. at 299, 115 S.Ct. 1489. The Supreme Court has reaffirmed this principle as recently as 2010 in Jerman. See Jerman v. Carlisle, McNellie, Rini, Kramer & Ulrich LPA, et al., 559 U.S. 573, 130 S.Ct. 1605, 176 L.Ed.2d 519 (2010) (holding that a law firm subject to the FDCPA for its litigation activity is not entitled to the bona fide error defense of 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(c) for a mistake of law). And in neither Jerman nor Heintz did the Court express a Noerr-Pennington concern. As the Bureau points out, “not a single court in the Eleventh Circuit has ever applied Noerr-Pen-nington to bar an FDCPA claim.” (Resp. at 12 (citing Roban v. Marinosci Law Grp., 34 F.Supp.3d 1252, 1255 (S.D.Fla. 2014) (“Deutsche Bank and Marinosci Law failed to cite to a single case from the Eleventh Circuit that extends the Noerr-Pennington doctrine to claims brought under the FDCPA. The Court could not find any in its independent research.”)).) Moreover, the Eleventh Circuit’s recent decision in Miljkovic re-emphasized its recognition of the FDCPA’s protection of consumers from the full sweep of debt collectors’ attorneys’ false, misleading, or deceptive litigation activities.
Defendants direct the Court to Hem-mingsen, in which the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal on summary judgment of an FDCPA claim brought against a creditor’s lawyers, holding that the specific statements at issue— those made in a legal memorandum and client affidaviN-were simply not false or misleading. Hemmingsen v. Messerli & Kramer, P.A., 674 F.3d 814, 819 (8th Cir.2012). The court did not rule, however, that the Noerr-Pennington doctrine applied; in fact, the court made no mention of that docfrine at all. Instead, the court simply concluded that the statements at issue — made in summary judgment briefing long after a debt collection lawsuit began and made for the purpose of persuading the court to grant relief — were simply not false or misleading in such a way as to trigger FDCPA liability. Id. at 819-20.
It was not false or misleading to submit a client affidavit and legal memorandum arguing [the defendant’s] legal position that Ms. Hemmingsen was liable for the unpaid account balance, even if [her husband, George] was the only one who used the credit card and made partial payments on the account, when [the creditor’s] records reflected that George submitted the initial application, added •Ms. Hemmingsen. to the account by phone, neither spouse questioned statements identifying it as a joint account, partial payments were made by checks from a joint account, and a Marital Termination Agreement signed by Ms. Hemmingsen listed it as a joint obligation for the couple’s “living expenses.” The fact that a state court judge rejected the contention, unaware that Ms. Hemmingsen had personally made at least one payment on the account, does not prove that those assertions were false or misleading for purposes of § 1692e. Nor has Ms. Hemmingsen produced any evidence showing that the state court judge — or anyone else — “was misled, deceived, or otherwise duped” by [the defendant’s] pleadings.
Id. at 820 (quoting O’Rourke v. Palisades Acquisition XVI, LLC, 635 F.3d 938, 945 (7th Cir.2011) (Tinder, J., concurring), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 132 S.Ct. 1141, 181 L.Ed.2d 1017 (2012)). The court went further to contrast the case before it with an example more like the one presented here, where a plaintiff alleges “that the defendant debt collector lawyer routinely files collection complaints containing intentionally false assertions of the amount owed, serves the complaints’ on unrepresented consumers, and then dismisses any complaint that is not defaulted.” Id. at 818- As the court recognized, such a case would “raise far different issues of abusive, deceptive, or unfair means of debt collection.” Id. at 818 (citing McColiough v. Johnson, Rodenburg & Lauinger, LLC, 637 F.3d 939, 947 (9th Cir.2011)).
Hemmingsen may be helpful in deciding whether evidence in an FDCPA case sufficiently supports a claim alleging false or deceptive statements, a issue not yet before this Court, but Hemmingsen does not support Defendants’ invocation of the Noerr-Pennington doctrine. See also Austin v. Frederick J. Hanna & Assocs., P.C., No. 1:14-CV-00561-SCJ-JF, 2014 WL 4724885, at *6 (N.D.Ga. July 10, 2014) (King, Mag. J.) (“The decision in Hem-mingsen does not stand for the proposition that attorneys posses a first amendment litigation immunity against all law suits brought by debtors pursuant to the FDCPA but that, as determined on a case-by-case basis, litigation conduct may not offend the FDCPA.”), adopted, (N.D.Ga. Dec. 23, 2014) (Jones, J.). Similarly, after providing an expansive holding regarding the scope of litigation activities subject to the FDCPA; the Eleventh Circuit in Mil-jkovic found that the particular facts set forth by Plaintiff did not state a claim for relief. Miljkovic, 791 F.3d 1291. For these reasons, the Court rejects Defendants’ First Amendment/Noerr-Penning-ton argument.
2. Equal Protection Clause
Defendants next argue that the Fifth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause prohibits the Bureau from imposing upon the Firm and its clients “requirements on the bringing of debt collection lawsuits not applicable to other kinds' of litigants.” (Mot. Dismiss at 36.) Defendants argue' that their clients have a fundamental right to access to the courts, and thus the Court should apply strict scrutiny to the Bureau’s claims which have the effect of burdening this right. The question Defendants present is therefore whether the Bureau’s action against the Firm limits its creditor-clients’ access to the courts in any constitutionally significant way. The Court concludes that it does not.
Defendants’ equal protection claim fails right out of the gate because they erroneously suggest that the Court should apply strict scrutiny in a knee-jerk fashion the. moment one’s ability to access the courts is infringed in any manner. On the contrary, “[w]hen a claim involves a right not entitled to special constitutional protection, access,to the courts may be hindered, if there is a rational basis for so doing.” Woods v. Holy Cross Hasp., 591 F.2d 1164, 1174 (5th Cir.1979) (citing among others, United States v. Kras, 409 U.S. 434, 93 S.Ct. 631, 34 L.Ed.2d 626 (1973)) (holding that Florida is free to require pre-suit mediation for any medical malpractice case). Thus for example in Boddie v. Connecticut, the case that gave birth to the fundamental right of access to the courts, the Supreme Court held that states could not limit access to the courts for one seeking divorce, stressing that the state had a monopoly on the means to legally dissolve the “fundamental human relationship” of marriage. Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U.S. 371, 382-83, 91 S.Ct. 780, 28 L.Ed.2d 113 (1971).
The Supreme Court came out the other way in United States v. Kras, a case in which a debtor challenged bankruptcy court fees. United States v. Kras, 409 U.S. 434, 445, 93 S.Ct. 631, 34 L.Ed.2d 626 (1973). The Court reasoned that unlike the fundamental interests at stake in Bod-die, the “álleged interest in the elimination of [the appellant’s] debt burden, and in obtaining his desired new start in life, although important and so recognized by the enactment of the Bankruptcy Act, does not rise to the same constitutional level.” Id. The Court further noted that, unlike in Boddie, the debtor in Kras was free to “enter into and rescind' commercial contracts.” Id.’
However unrealistic the remedy may be in a particular situation, a debtor, in theory, and often in actuality, may adjust his debts by negotiated agreement with his ci-editors. At times the happy passage of the applicable limitation period, or other acceptable creditor arrangement, will provide the answer. Government’s role with respect to the private commercial relationship is qualitatively and quantitatively different from its role in the establishment, enforcement, and dissolution of marriage.
Id. at 445-46, 93 S.Ct. 631; see also Kadrmas v. Dickinson Public Schools, 487 U.S. 450, 458, 108 S.Ct. 2481, 101 L.Ed.2d 399 (1988) (states may allow some local school boards but not others to assess a fee for transporting students from home to public school).
The right at issue here is the Firm’s creditor clients’ right to go to court to recover on their loans. This right is no more constitutionally significant than the right of a debtor to go to court to discharge his debt — indeed, it is essentially the same right viewed from the creditor’s perspective. The Firm’s clients “in theory, and often in actuality, may adjust [the] debts by negotiated agreement with [their debtors].” Kras, 409 U.S. at 445-56, 93 S.Ct. 631. Thus, there is no fundamental right at stake here that triggers strict scrutiny. And as noted, Defendants make no argument that the Bureau’s enforcement of the FDCPA and CFPA would not survive rational basis review. Accordingly, the Court rejects Defendants equal protection defense.
C. Meaningful Attorney Involvement 1. FDCPA
The Bureau alleges that the Firm’s practice of filing debt collection lawsuits without any meaningful involvement by an ■ attorney violates 15 U.S.C. § 1692e. Under § 1692e, “[a] debt collector may not use any false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt.” The statute then provides several exam-pies of false, deceptive, or misleading representations or means, expressly noting that these examples are not meant to “lim-ite ] the general application” of 1692e. The Bureau argues that the filing of a lawsuit, signed by an attorney but without meaningful attorney involvement, violates § 1692e(3), which prohibits “[t]he false representation or implication that any individual is an attorney or that any communication is from an attorney.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692e(3). The Bureau also alleges in its Complaint that the Firm’s practice of filing complaints without meaningful attorney involvement violates § 1692e(10), which prohibits “[t]he use of any false representation or deceptive means to collect or attempt to collect any debt.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692e(10).
Under the broadly construed terms of § 1692e(3), the Bureau states an FDCPA claim based on the attorneys’ alleged lack of meaningful involvement in the filing of the Georgia Collection Suits. Consistent with the practice of broadly construing remedial consumer protection statutes in favor of the consumer, courts have routinely held that a “communication” that is literally from an attorney (in the sense that it may be signed by an attorney or comes from her office) may still violate § 1692e(3) if the attorney was not meaningfully involved in drafting the communication. See, e.g., Clomon v. Jackson, 988 F.2d 1314 (2d Cir.1993); Avila v. Rubin, 84 F.3d 222, 228 (7th Cir.1996); Gonzalez v. Kay, 577 F.3d 600, 604 (5th Cir.2009); Lesher v. Law Offices of Mitchell, 650 F.3d 993, 1003 (3d Cir.2011); Dalton v. FMA Enterp., Inc., 953 F.Supp. 1525 (M.D.Fla. 1997).
In Clomon, for example, the Second Circuit held that a lawyer violated the § 1692e(3) when he “authorized the sending of debt collection letters bearing, his name and a facsimile of his signature without first reviewing the collection letters or the files of the persons to whom the letters were sent.” Clomon, 988 F.2d at 1316. •The court reasoned that the use of the attorney’s signature had the potential to mislead the least sophisticated consumer— the standard also applied in the Eleventh Circuit. Id. at 1321. The court explained how a consumer could be misled by this practice.
[T]he use of an attorney’s signature on a collection letter implies that the letter is “from” the attorney who signed it; it implies, in other words, that the attorney directly controlled or supervised the process through which the letter was sent. We have also found here that the use of an attorney’s signature implies— at least in the absence of language to the contrary — that the attorney .signing the letter formed an opinion about how to manage the case of the debtor to whom the letter was sent. In a mass mailing, these implications are frequently false: the attorney whose signature is .used might play no role either in sending the letters or in determining who should receive them.
Id. “In short,” the court explained, “the fact that [the lawyer] played virtually no day-to-day role in the debt collection process supports the conclusion that the collection letters were not ‘from’ [the lawyer] in any meaningful sense of that word. Consequently, the facts of this' ease establish a violation of' subsection (3) of § 1692&” Id. at 1320.
Several circuit courts and many district courts in this circuit have adopted and expanded on this “meaningful involvement” doctrine for determining whether a debt-collection lawyer violates § 1692e(3) in his communications. See, e.g., Avila, 84 F.3d at 228-29 (holding that an attorney with “no real involvement in the mailing of dunning letters” violates the § 1692e(3) when he mechanically- reproduces his signature on such debt collection letters because the attorney had “no real involvement in the mailing” of such letters, and thus the letters were “not ‘really’ from an attorney in any meaningful sense of the word”); Gonzalez v. Kay, 577 F.3d 600, 605 (5th Cir.2009) (reversing dismissal of a complaint alleging that unsigned dunning letters on attorney letterhead in which the attorney had no meaningful involvement violate the FDCPA despite a disclaimer on the back of the letter because “the ‘least sophisticated consumer’ reading this letter might be deceived into thinking that a lawyer "was involved in the debt collection”); Lesher, 650 F.3d at 1003 (applying the meaningful attorney involvement doctrine to affirm denial of summary judgment where á law firm notified the debtor on law firm- letterhead that its “office” is handling the debtor’s account, despite a disclaimer on the back of the letter); Dalton v. FMA Enterp., Inc., 953 F.Supp. 1525 (M.D.Fla.1997) (adopting the meaningful attorney involvement doctrine in denying a lawyer’s motion for summary judgment, holding that a question of fact existed whether the lawyer was meaningfully involved in the sending of a dunning letter when the lawyer “reviewed debtors’ names, original balances, current balances and statuses of-the accounts recommended for legal review, -client codes, and file numbers”).
• In Avila, the Seventh Circuit explained the relevant concern motivating the meaningful attorney doctrine. “An unsophisticated . consumer, getting a letter from an ‘attorney,’ knows the price of poker has just gone up,” the court reasoned. Avila, 84 F.3d at 229. “And-that clearly is the reason why the dunning campaign escalates from the collection agency, which might not strike fear in the heart of the consumer, to the attorney, who is better positioned to get the debtor’s knees knocking.” Id,.; see also Gonzalez, 577 F.3d at 605 (“A letter from a lawyer implies that the lawyer has become involved in the debt collection process, and the fear of a lawsuit is likely to intimidate most consumers.”).
To go further, several district courts have applied this meaningful attorney involvement doctrine to an FDCPA claim such as the one presented here premised on the filing of a lawsuit without meaningful attorney involvement. See, e.g., Bock v. Pressler & Pressler, LLP, 30 F.Supp.3d 283, 293 (D.N.J.2014); Tourgeman v. Collins Fin. Servs. Inc., No. 08-cv-1392 JLS (NLS), 2011 WL 3176453, at *1 (SJD.Calif.July 26, 2011), reversed on other grounds, 755 F.3d 1109 (9th Cir.2014) (suggesting that the district court correctly applied the meaningful involvement doctrine); see also Diaz v. Portfolio Recovery Assocs., LLC, No. 10 CV 3920(ERK), 2012 WL 661456, at *12-13 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 28, 2012) (recommending denying a motion to dismiss a similar FDCPA claim), adopted by, 2012 WL 1882976 (E.D.N.Y. May 24, 2012); Berg v. Blatt, Hasenmiller, Leibsker & Moore LLC, No. 07 C 4887, 2009 WL 901011, at *12 (N.D.Ill. Mar. 31, 2009); Miller v. Upton, Cohen & Slamowitz, 687 F.Supp.2d 86, 100 (E.D.N.Y.2009) (concluding that a law firm “mass-produced” debt collection and litigation documents “at the push of a button” and thus holding that the firm was liable under § 1692e). But see Taylor v. Quall, 471 F.Supp.2d 1053, 1061-62 (C.D.Calif.2007) (stating that there is no “general standard under the FDCPA for adequate attorney involvement in debt collection actions” and suggesting that the meaningful attorney involvement analysis should be limited to cases involving “the mass mailing of collection letters containing the signatures of attorneys who never reviewed the involved debtors’ individual files”). These courts simply recognize that §-1692e(3) and the associated meaningful attorney involvement doctrine apply to “communications” that are ostensibly from an attorney, and a collection complaint is a “communication” as that term is defined under the FDCPA. Bock, 30 F.Supp.3d at 291. ¡
Defendants do not argue that a complaint filed in court 'is somehow not a communication under § 1692e, nor could they. The FDCPA broadly defines the term “communication” as “the conveying of information regarding a debt directly or indirectly to any person through any medium.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(2). And other subsections of the FDCPA solidify that, absent an exclusion, a legal pleading is a communication. For example, 15 U.S.C. § 1692e(ll) requires debt collectors to disclose certain information in an initial written communication, but expressly provides that this requirement “shall not apply to a formal pleading made in connection with a legal action.” If a formal pleading were not otherwise considered a communication, this exception would be superfluous. See Miljkovic, 791 F.3d at 1299 (holding that “Congress did not otherwise constrain the Act’s general applicability to lawyers using litigation to collect debts” when it amended § 1692e(11) and exempted formal pleadings from the particularized FDCPA requirement that the communication comes from a debt-collector); Goldman v. Cohen, 445 F.3d 152, 156 (2d Cir.2006) (“[T]his section’s express exclusion of a legal pleading from the scope of the term ‘communication’ implies the drafters’ understanding that the term ‘communication’ would otherwise include legal pleadings.”) (quoting Goldman v. Cohen, No. 01 Civ. 5952(LMM), 2004 WL 2937793, at *2 (Dec. 17, 2004)); see also United States v. Alabama, 778 F.3d 926 (11th Cir.2015) (“[W]hen [courts] engage in statutory interpretation, ‘[i]t is our duty to give effect, if possible, to every clause and word of a clause.’”) (citing United States v. Menasche, 348 U.S. 528, 538-39, 75 S.Ct. 513, 99 L.Ed. 615 (1955)). Likewise, a 2006 amendment to the FDCPA applicable to § 1692g(a) provides that “[a] communication in the form of a formal pleading in a civil action shall not be treated as an initial communication.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(d). Thus, considering the statute as a whole, a complaint filed in court may constitute a communication for purposes of § 1692e. See also Miljkovic, 791 F.3d at 1303 (“Interpreting the FDCPA to permit otherwise prohibited conduct merely because it ... takes the form of a procedural filing would not only subvert the plain text of the Act, it would also frustrate the Act’s stated objectives.”); Thomas v. Simpson & Cybak, 392 F.3d 914 (7th Cir.2004).(en banc) (holding that the plain language of the statute provides that a summons and complaint is a “communication” under the FDCPA), superseded on other grounds by state statute as recognized in Beler v. Blatt, Hasenmiller, Leibsker & Moore, LLC, 480 F.3d 470, 472-73 (7th Cir.2007); Donohue v. Quick Collect, Inc., 592 F.3d 1027, 1031-32 (9th Cir.2010).
Instead of arguing that a complaint is not a communication, Defendants make four interrelated arguments, none of which adequately support their Motion to Dismiss. First, Defendants argue that the court-made “meaningful attorney involvement” doctrine — which is not codified in the FDCPA — should not be extended to pleadings because a different set of concerns are involved when dealing with dunning letters. According to Defendants, “[c]purts have uniformly rationalized ‘a meaningful involvement’ requirement for attorney collection letters on the basis that “[a] letter from a lawyer implies that the lawyer - has become involved in the. debt collection process, and the fear of a lawsuit is likely to intimidate most consumers.”” (Mot. Dismiss at 16 (quoting Gonzalez, 577 F.3d at 604).) Defendants argue that this same rationale does not apply to complaints actually filed with, a court.. (Id. at 17.) In this case, on the other hand, a lawsuit has already commenced and thus the stakes have already been raised. Thus, according to Defendants, “the filing of a lawsuit truthfully informs consumers that they are named as defendants in a lawsuit.” (Id. at 17-18.)
The Cour