ORLANDO – A Punta Gorda consumer alleges that a debt collector repeatedly contacted him but would not disclose the reason for calling.
Charles Cole filed a complaint on Oct. 7 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida against Halsted Financial Services LLC, Syed Ali, Pran Navanandan and Doe 1-5 citing the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that beginning in September 2015, the defendants began calling him in an attempt to collect an alleged debt. The suit states that when calling, the defendants would ask for the plaintiff's name and then ask him to verify the last four digits of his Social Security number, which the plaintiff did not provide. He alleges the callers never identified themselves or for what purpose they were calling, which is a violation of the FDCPA.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks statutory damages of $2,000, actual damages of $2,355, all legal fees, punitive damages and any other relief as the court deems just. He is represented by Megan Lyons of Lyons Law in Orlando.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida Case number 2:16-cv-00754-UA-MRM