Collection agency accused of harrassing man

A Louisiana resident claims he was harassed by a collection agency about a debt that had been paid years earlier.

Mikey Martin filed suit against Receivables Recoverable Services and Does 1-10, inclusive, June 29 in federal court in New Orleans.

According to court documents, Martin paid off an account several years prior to the debt collector purchasing the alleged obligation.

Martin says that the defendant reported the account as having been unpaid for six years and attempted to collect payment without validating the debt. Although the delinquency was reported to credit agencies, the company allegedly did not notify Martin about the collection account.

Martin says he called Receivables Recoverable Services after learning of the action but says the representative he spoke with used rude and abusive language.

"The Defendants' conduct was so outrageous in character, and so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be regard as atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community," the lawsuit reads.

Causes of action filed against Receivables Recoverable Services and Does 1 -10 including violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Louisiana Fair Debt Collection Practices Act along with invasion of privacy by intrusion into private affairs.

Martin is seeking statutory damages of $1,000 for each violation, costs of litigation and attorney's fees, actual damages for emotional distress, humiliation, anger, anxiety, fear, frustration, embarrassment, punitive damages, costs of litigation and attorneys' fees.

Martin is represented by Mary Marshall Smythe in New York.

Additional counsel includes Lemberg & Associates in Stamford, Connecticut. A jury trial is requested.

U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon is assigned to the case.

Case No. 2:10cv01856