EAST ST. LOUIS — A man is suing a debt collector for attempting to collect a debt with Cigna following bankruptcy.
Michael Hergenroeder filed a complaint on Feb. 17 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Brown and Joseph, LTD., alleging it violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that on Nov. 25, 2015, he filed a bankruptcy petition for a debt obligation with Cigna and/or the Life Insurance Company of Northern American and received an Order of Discharge on March 22, 2016.
Cigna then notified the defendant of the discharge as it already acquired the subject debt. However, the plaintiff still received a collection letter demanding payment amounting to $15,268.
The plaintiff alleges the defendant violated the discharge injunction by attempting to collect the alleged debt despite it being included in the order of discharge filed in the bankruptcy proceedings.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks actual damages, statutory damages, reasonable attorney's fees, costs and any other further relief this court deems just and appropriate.
He is represented by Travis W. Cohron of Barker Hancock and Cohron in Noblesville, Ind.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:17-cv-00178