In Tompkins v. Selip & Stylianou, 2019 WL 522143 (D.N.J., Feb. 11, 2019), Chief Judge Jose Linares denied defendant’s motion to dismiss a putative state-wide class action complaint filed by plaintiff Robert Tompkins against defendant RAB Performance Recoveries.

The complaint alleged that RAB violated section e(10) of the federal Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692e(10)), which prohibits the “use of any false representation or deceptive means to collect or attempt to collect any debt.” The court ruled that the Tompkins’ allegation—that RAB’s communication to plaintiff attempting to collect a debt falsely represented that RAB had a legal right to collect the debt—was sufficient to defeat RAB’s motion and enable plaintiff to proceed.