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FLORIDA RECORD

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Lease termination turns into credit issue case against National Credit System

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FORT MYERS, Fla. – A plaintiff's motion to strike in the Fair Credit Reporting Act case against National Credit System has been granted as well as denied on several arguments.

The case involves Deshawn Robinson and Diandra Decrescenzo, the two plaintiffs who filed a complaint against National Credit System after ending their lease at a residential property in the Avana Cypress Creek development, which is owned and managed by Greystar.

According to the court order by Magistrate Judge Carol Miranda, the plaintiffs owed fees to both Avana and Greystar after terminating their lease, which was acknowledged as paid in full by the parties. Despite this, Greystar transferred the $627.30 owed to debt collector National Credit System.


National notified the plaintiffs that if they failed to pay the amount due, they would have the nonpayment placed on their credit report with the three credit reporting agencies. National filed the information with the credit bureaus, which reported the debt as past due, according to the court order.

The plaintiffs then filed a suit against National, alleging that it violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by making false representations that they owed money. In their suit, the plaintiffs said they suffered damages including “metal and emotional suffering, fright, anguish, shock, nervousness, anxiety, humiliation, depression and an inability to secure credit,” according to the court order.

In response to the claims, National filed an affirmative defense with nine points that were granted in part by Miranda as requested in the plaintiffs’ motion to strike them from the case. The judge of the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Florida in the Fort Myers Division granted the motion to strike in regards to there being insufficient evidence, that there were preempted claims made by the plaintiffs, that the damages requested by plaintiffs were not mitigated, and that the plaintiffs were barred by all equitable doctrines.

Miranda denied the motion to strike in regards to the defendant accurately recording and reporting the credit information, that the violations made were not willfully caused, that damages should be appropriated to the responsible party, and that the defendants made a bona fide error. The judge also denied the motion to strike the alelgation by National that the plaintiffs suffered damages.

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