EAST ST. LOUIS — A man is suing Convergent Outsourcing Inc. and four unnamed individuals with the debt collection company, citing alleged misrepresentation in debt collection.
Martin R. McCormick Jr. filed a complaint on March 3 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois alleging that the defendants violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that, on Sept. 13, 2016, he filed a bankruptcy petition and received protection from the filing, listing the alleged debt to Verizon Wireless, the collection agency's client in this case, at $617.53. Plaintiff requested that all communications related to the debt collection must be stopped, but he still received a letter attempting to collect the debt. As a result, McCormick claims he suffered emotional distress, fear and embarrassment.
The plaintiff holds Convergent Outsourcing and its employees responsible because they allegedly engaged in debt collection efforts while plaintiff was maintaining an active bankruptcy case and used oppressive, deceptive and unfair collection tactics to collect the alleged debt.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment for statutory damages of $1,000, actual damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, costs, reasonable attorneys' fees and such other relief as the court deems just. He is represented by Nathan D. Sturycz of Edwardsville.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:17-cv-00229