BOSTON (Legal Newsline) – Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey says the challenge of a debt collectors’ trade group has become moot.
Emergency regulations in March prevented debt collectors from filing new lawsuits or calling debtors on any other number than the one provided by him or her. They were challenged by the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals in Massachusetts federal court in April.
A judge sided with ACA by entering a preliminary injunction on grounds the regulations were likely to be found to violate the First Amendment.
Because the regulations were emergency measures, they were forbidden to last longer than three months and have since expired, Healey’s office says.
“As such, the plaintiff’s sought-after declaratory judgments would provide it no effectual relief, and are moot,” Healey’s office wrote.
“The plaintiff may seek to avoid this conclusion by arguing that it is entitled to a declaration that, during the period the Regulations were in effect, they were contrary to the First Amendment and other federal laws. But such a retrospective declaration is barred by the Eleventh Amendment and would not present any live controversy.”