Stopping illegal rental fees
In 2015, LAJC attorneys and consumer clinic law students worked together to file suit against IQ Data, a debt collector for a landlord in Northern Virginia. We filed the case as a class action alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act due to adding fees and interest to rental housing debt without any basis in law or contract. We received a very favorable opinion from the district judge denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss and subsequently reached a settlement agreement worth $125,000 in damages for the class and an additional $85,000 in attorneys’ fees for us. Most happily, IQ Data has ceased its illegal practice of charging interest on pre-judgment debts to nearly 9,000 consumers in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.