Eleventh Circuit Concludes That Filing a Proof of Claim After the Expiration of Statute of Limitations On the Ability to Collect a Debt Violates the FDCPA

By: Armando Nozzolillo and Michael S. Waskiewicz

Recently, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals (the “Court”) ruled whether filing a proof of claim in a chapter 13 bankruptcy case after the statute of limitations on the ability to collect the debt expires violates the FDCPA. In Crawford v. LVNV Funding, LLC, et. al. , Debtor was indebted to a furniture company. A third-party creditor (the “Creditor”) eventually purchased the debt from the furniture company. In 2004, pursuant to the Alabama statute of limitations, the debt became unenforceable in both state and federal court.