BOSTON (Legal Newsline) – A federal judge will abstain from ruling on Massachusetts’ law being challenged by debt collectors that are prohibited from calling customers more than twice in a seven-day period.
Judge Nathaniel Gorton on June 10 dismissed the federal lawsuit filed by Credit Acceptance Corporation last year because of a related state court action that is ongoing. CAC challenged the law after state Attorney General Maura Healey notified it of an enforcement action she’d be bringing against the company.
These issues can be sorted out in Healey’s civil case against CAC, filed Aug. 28, 2020, Judge Gorton wrote, as it meets the criteria for Younger abstention on his part.
Healey’s lawsuit is a quasi-criminal proceeding and was not filed after an excessive delay, Gorton said.
“This Court recognizes that enforcement of the Regulation raises legitimate First Amendment concerns,” the suit says.
“It does not follow, however, that CAC is entitled to federal judicial scrutiny of the Regulation at this juncture because CAC has not shown that it lacks an ‘adequate opportunity in the state proceedings to raise constitutional challenges…’
“Here, the Court need not presume that a Massachusetts state court is competent to hear such claims because CAC has already raised its constitutional arguments in the state enforcement action.
“In fact, CAC was able to present fully its constitutional challenge in state court more quickly than in this Court, weakening the argument that the investigatory delay supports federal intervention.”
Healey’s state court case was filed a week after CAC’s federal challenge. The company says the law hurts its ability to communicate with customers, which “is essential to helping customers bring their accounts current” and minimize the risk of repossession of their automobiles.