TAMPA (Florida Record) – Navient Solutions scored another victory last week when a federal court in Florida dismissed a lawsuit against a Virginia-based provider of federally owned or guaranteed students loans, saying plaintiffs failed to make their case on any of their allegations.
"Because there are no genuine issues of material fact left for trial on any of plaintiffs' remaining claims in the amended complaint, defendant is entitled to the entry of final summary judgment in this case," U.S. District Court Judge Susan C. Bucklew said in her Aug. 28 order.
Judgment in the case was issued in favor of Navient the following day.
The plaintiffs' claims were based "only on the pleadings and uncorroborated, self-serving statements," Bucklew, on the bench in Florida's Middle District, Tampa Division, said in her 21-page order. "Plaintiffs fail to provide competent, record evidence that supports their allegations of affirmative misrepresentations made by Defendant and, therefore, no genuine issues of material fact remain to be decided in a trial of this case."
Plaintiffs Edwing D. Daniel, William Cottrill, Brook Padgett and Elaine Lareina Lai alleged, among other things, that Reston, Va.-based Navient Solutions, in addition to other things, violated the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act and the Colorado Consumer Protection Act. The plaintiffs also claimed that Navient made misrepresentations to them about their eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
The Florida decision was the latest in a small string of wins for Navient in other student loan cases. In November, the U.S. District Court for Alabama's Northern District granted Navient's motion for summary judgment, saying the plaintiff in Green v. Navient could not claim Telephone Consumer Protection Act protections because Navient called her to collect on a government-backed student loan.
In January, Florida's Middle District granted Navient's motion for summary judgment in Gaza v. Navient after finding that calls made solely to a government-back debt owed are not subject to the TCPA.