Keith Davidson v. Capital One Bank (USA), N.A. , 797 F.3d 1309 ( 2015 )


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  •                Case: 14-14200       Date Filed: 08/21/2015       Page: 1 of 18
    [PUBLISH]
    IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
    ________________________
    No. 14-14200
    ________________________
    D.C. Docket No. 1:13-cv-02307-WSD
    KEITH DAVIDSON,
    on behalf of plaintiff and a class,
    Plaintiff - Appellant,
    versus
    CAPITAL ONE BANK (USA), N.A.,
    Defendant - Appellant.
    ________________________
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the Northern District of Georgia
    ________________________
    (August 21, 2015)
    Before WILSON and MARTIN, Circuit Judges, and HODGES, ∗ District Judge.
    WILSON, Circuit Judge:
    ∗
    Honorable Wm. Terrell Hodges, United States District Judge for the Middle District of
    Florida, sitting by designation.
    Case: 14-14200     Date Filed: 08/21/2015   Page: 2 of 18
    In this appeal, we decide whether a bank that collects or attempts to collect
    on a debt, which was in default at the time it was acquired by the bank, qualifies as
    a “debt collector” under the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15
    U.S.C. §§ 1692–1692p. Keith Davidson appeals the dismissal of his amended
    complaint, filed on behalf of himself and a class of similarly situated individuals,
    alleging that Capital One Bank (USA), N.A. (Capital One) violated certain
    provisions of the FDCPA in attempting to collect on defaulted or delinquent credit
    card accounts that Capital One had acquired from HSBC Bank Nevada, N.A.
    (HSBC). The district court dismissed Davidson’s amended complaint on the
    ground that Capital One was not a “debt collector” as defined by the Act and was
    thus not subject to the Act.
    We need look no further than the statutory text to conclude that, under the
    plain language of the FDCPA, a bank (or any person or entity) does not qualify as
    a “debt collector” where the bank does not regularly collect or attempt to collect on
    debts “owed or due another” and where “the collection of any debts” is not “the
    principal purpose” of the bank’s business, even where the consumer’s debt was in
    default at the time the bank acquired it. See 
    id. § 1692a(6).
    As discussed below, the amended complaint’s factual matter establishes that
    Capital One’s collection efforts in this case related only to debts owed to it and that
    debt collection is only some part of, and not the principal purpose of, Capital One’s
    2
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    business. See 
    id. In short,
    Capital One’s activity, as alleged by Davidson, is not
    the activity of a “debt collector” under the FDCPA, and Davidson cannot state a
    claim under the Act. We therefore affirm the district court’s dismissal of
    Davidson’s amended complaint.
    I.
    In 2007, HSBC filed suit against Davidson in state court to collect on a
    credit card account belonging to Davidson that he had used for “personal, family,
    or household purposes.” 1 See 
    id. § 1692a(5).
    During the course of the litigation,
    the parties entered into a settlement agreement, whereby Davidson agreed to pay
    $500.00 to HSBC, and, in return, HSBC agreed to dismiss its collection action.
    When Davidson failed to pay the $500.00 to HSBC, the state court entered a
    judgment in favor of HSBC and against Davidson in the amount of $500.00.
    In May 2012, Capital One acquired approximately $28 billion of HSBC’s
    United States-based credit card accounts, over $1 billion of which were shown as
    delinquent or in default at the time of Capital One’s acquisition, including the
    credit card account belonging to Davidson. Shortly thereafter, in August 2012,
    Capital One filed suit against Davidson in state court to collect on the same credit
    card account that had been the subject of HSBC’s prior lawsuit. Capital One’s
    1
    The following facts are taken from Davidson’s amended complaint and those core
    documents Davidson subsequently attached to his amended complaint. See Reese v. Ellis,
    Painter, Ratterree & Adams, LLP, 
    678 F.3d 1211
    , 1215–16 (11th Cir. 2012) (documents
    attached to complaint); Bickley v. Caremark RX, Inc., 
    461 F.3d 1325
    , 1329 n.7 (11th Cir. 2006)
    (documents referred to in complaint and central to plaintiff’s claim).
    3
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    state court complaint alleged that Davidson’s account was delinquent in the
    amount of $1,149.96. An affidavit attached to the complaint asserted that Capital
    One had acquired Davidson’s credit card account as of May 2012.
    In July 2013, Davidson filed suit in district court, on behalf of himself and a
    purported class of similarly situated individuals, claiming that Capital One’s state
    court activities violated the FDCPA. Specifically, Davidson alleged that Capital
    One’s complaint falsely stated the amount of Davidson’s debt, which had been
    reduced to a $500.00 judgment in the HSBC litigation, and that the affidavit was
    “mass produced,” “robo-signed,” and not based on the affiant’s personal
    knowledge and contained false statements in violation of the FDCPA. See 
    id. § 1692e.
    Capital One moved to dismiss Davidson’s action under Federal Rule of
    Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. In response, Davidson filed an
    amended complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a).
    Capital One moved to dismiss the amended complaint. It argued that the
    amended complaint failed to plausibly allege that Capital One was a “debt
    collector” for purposes of the FDCPA and only debt collectors are subject to
    liability under the Act. Specifically, Capital One asserted that it did not qualify as
    a “debt collector” because it regularly collected debts that were owed to it and not
    debts “owed or due another.” Davidson countered that the amended complaint
    sufficiently alleged that Capital One met the definition of “debt collector” by
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    stating that Capital One “regularly acquired delinquent and defaulted consumer
    debts that were originally owed to others” and “attempted to collect such . . . debts
    in the regular course of its business.” Companies that regularly purchase and
    collect defaulted consumer debts, Davidson argued, are regulated by the Act.
    The district court agreed with Capital One. According to the district court,
    whether Davidson’s debt was in default at the time it was acquired by Capital One
    did not bear on whether Capital One satisfied the statutory definition of “debt
    collector.”2 It further found that, to qualify as a debt collector under the FDCPA,
    Capital One had to “regularly” collect or attempt to collect on debts “owed or due
    another” or the principal purpose of Capital One’s business had to be “the
    collection of any debts,” see 
    id. § 1692a(6),
    and Capital One did not satisfy either
    requirement. The district court dismissed Davidson’s amended complaint pursuant
    to Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim, and Davidson timely appealed.
    II.
    We review de novo a district court’s interpretation of a statute. Bankston v.
    Then, 
    615 F.3d 1364
    , 1367 (11th Cir. 2010) (per curiam). We also review de novo
    2
    The amended complaint does not allege that Davidson defaulted on the HSBC judgment
    prior to Capital One’s acquisition of his credit card account. Still, Capital One has treated
    Davidson’s debt as a debt that was in default at the time it was acquired, and we will do the
    same. See, e.g., Bridge v. Ocwen Fed. Bank, FSB, 
    681 F.3d 355
    , 362 (6th Cir. 2012) (“It matters
    not whether [treatment of the debt as if it were in default at the time of acquisition] was due to a
    clerical mistake, other error, or intention.”); Schlosser v. Fairbanks Capital Corp., 
    323 F.3d 534
    ,
    538 (7th Cir. 2003) (“Focusing on the status of the obligation asserted by the assignee is
    reasonable in light of the conduct regulated by the statute.”).
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    the grant of a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).
    Hill v. White, 
    321 F.3d 1334
    , 1335 (11th Cir. 2003) (per curiam). In so doing, we
    accept as true all well-pleaded factual allegations in the complaint, see Randall v.
    Scott, 
    610 F.3d 701
    , 710 (11th Cir. 2010), which we construe “in the light most
    favorable to the plaintiff,” 
    Hill, 321 F.3d at 1335
    . To survive a motion to dismiss,
    a complaint must “state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face,” meaning it
    must contain “factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference
    that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 
    556 U.S. 662
    , 678, 
    129 S. Ct. 1937
    , 1949 (2009) (internal quotation marks omitted).
    III.
    The FDCPA was passed “to eliminate abusive debt collection practices,” to
    ensure that “debt collectors who refrain from using abusive debt collection
    practices are not competitively disadvantaged,” and to promote consistent state
    action in protecting consumers against debt collection abuses. See 15 U.S.C. §
    1692(e); see S. Rep. No. 95-382, at 1–2 (1977), reprinted in 1977 U.S.C.C.A.N.
    1695, 1696 (nature and purpose of FDCPA). In accordance with its stated
    purposes, the FDCPA bans certain debt collection practices and allows individuals
    to sue debt collectors who fail to comply with the Act. See § 1692b–1692f, 1692k.
    Davidson alleges that Capital One violated multiple subsections of 15 U.S.C.
    § 1692e. Section 1692e generally prohibits a debt collector from using “any false,
    6
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    deceptive, or misleading representations or means in connection with the collection
    of any debt.” § 1692e. Conduct constituting a violation includes “[t]he false
    representation of . . . the character, amount, or legal status of any debt” and “[t]he
    use of any false representation or deceptive means to collect or attempt to collect
    any debt or to obtain any information concerning a consumer.” 
    Id. § 1692e(2),
    (10). Davidson contends that the complaint and affidavit that Capital One filed in
    state court violated § 1692e and each of subsections 1692e(2) and 1692e(10).
    There is no dispute that § 1692e applies only to debt collectors. Therefore,
    in order to survive Capital One’s motion to dismiss, Davidson must plead “factual
    content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that” Capital One is
    a “debt collector” under the FDCPA and therefore liable for the misconduct
    alleged. See 
    Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678
    , 129 S. Ct. at 1949.
    A.
    Before we can determine whether Davidson’s amended complaint plausibly
    alleges that Capital One is a “debt collector” for purposes of the FDCPA, we must
    resolve the parties’ dispute regarding the meaning of the term “debt collector.”
    The Act defines “debt collector” to mean “[1] any person who uses any
    instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal
    purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or [2] who regularly collects or
    attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed
    7
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    or due another.”3 § 1692a(6). The definition excludes several categories of
    persons, see § 1692a(6)(A)–(F) (listing excluded persons), including “any person
    collecting or attempting to collect any debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or
    due another to the extent such activity . . . concerns a debt which was not in default
    at the time it was obtained by such person,” § 1692a(6)(F)(iii).
    Unlike debt collectors, creditors typically are not subject to the FDCPA.
    See, e.g., Pollice v. Nat’l Tax Funding, L.P., 
    225 F.3d 379
    , 403 (3d Cir. 2000). A
    “creditor” is “any person who offers or extends credit creating a debt or to whom a
    debt is owed.” § 1692a(4). However, “any person to the extent that he receives an
    assignment or transfer of a debt in default solely for the purpose of facilitating
    collection of such debt for another” is excluded from the definition of “creditor.”
    
    Id. Further, “any
    creditor who, in the process of collecting his own debts, uses any
    name other than his own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or
    attempting to collect such debts” will be treated as a “debt collector” for purposes
    of the Act. § 1692a(6).
    According to Davidson, the line between creditors and debt collectors is
    drawn by the default status of the debt. Relying on the exclusion found at §
    1692a(6)(F)(iii), Davidson contends that an entity that does not originate a debt,
    3
    See Brown v. Budget Rent-A-Car Sys., Inc., 
    119 F.3d 922
    , 924 (11th Cir. 1997) (per
    curiam) (“[T]he use of a disjunctive in a statute indicates alternatives and requires that those
    alternatives be treated separately.” (internal quotation marks omitted)).
    8
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    but acquires it from another, is deemed either a creditor or a debt collector
    depending on the default status of the debt at the time it was acquired. Put simply,
    Davidson avers that, if the debt was not in default when it was acquired, §
    1692a(6)(F)(iii) excludes the entity from the definition of “debt collector,” and the
    entity is a “creditor”; on the other hand, if the debt was in default when it was
    acquired, § 1692a(6)(F)(iii) does not apply, and the entity is a “debt collector.”
    This argument is not persuasive because § 1692a(6)(F)’s exclusions do not obviate
    the substantive requirements of § 1692a(6)’s definition.
    Subsection (F)(iii) excludes any person who is collecting or attempting to
    collect on any debt owed or due another from the term “debt collector” if the debt
    was not in default at the time it was acquired. The phrase “any person” is
    expansive. See CBS Inc. v. PrimeTime 24 Joint Venture, 
    245 F.3d 1217
    , 1223
    (11th Cir. 2001) (“[I]n the absence of any language limiting the breadth of [the
    word ‘any’], it must be read as referring to all of the subject that it is describing.”
    (internal quotation marks omitted)). The phrase is properly understood to include
    “any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in
    any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts” and is
    collecting for another, and any person “who regularly collects or attempts to collect
    . . . debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another” and is collecting for
    another. See § 1692a(6), (6)(F). Thus, a person who otherwise meets the
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    definition of “debt collector” may be excluded from the term if he obtained a debt
    from another, he is collecting the debt for another, and the debt was acquired prior
    to default.4 See 
    id. § 1692a(6)(F)(iii).
    However, where a person does not fall within subsection (F) or any one of
    the six statutory exclusions, he is not deemed a “debt collector” as a matter of
    course. Before a person can qualify as a “debt collector” under the FDCPA, he
    must satisfy the Act’s substantive requirements. See § 1692a(6). Pursuant to the
    plain language of the statute, a “debt collector” includes (1) “any person who uses
    any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the
    principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts,” or (2) any person “who
    regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or
    asserted to be owed or due another.” 5 
    Id. In contrast
    to the exclusion at §
    1692a(6)(F)(iii), the statutory definition of “debt collector” applies without regard
    to the default status of the underlying debt.
    4
    Entities falling within this exclusion include “mortgage service companies and others
    who service outstanding debts for others, so long as the debts were not in default when taken for
    servicing.” See S. Rep. No. 95-382, at 3–4.
    5
    There is another category of persons that falls within the definition of “debt collector.”
    Under § 1692a(6), the term “debt collector” includes “any creditor who, in the process of
    collecting his own debts, uses any name other than his own which would indicate that a third
    person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6) (emphasis
    added). Neither party asserts or even suggests that this third category is applicable here; their
    arguments and, as a result, our analysis is focused on the principal definition of “debt collector”
    in the first sentence of § 1692a(6).
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    In our construction of a statutory provision, “we read the statute to give full
    effect to each of its provisions . . . [and] look to the entire statutory context.”
    United States v. DBB, Inc., 
    180 F.3d 1277
    , 1281 (11th Cir. 1999). If we consider §
    1692a(6)(F)(iii) in isolation, it is not unreasonable to read the exclusion to intimate
    that any person who collects or attempts to collect any debt owed or due another,
    which debt was in default at the time it was obtained by such person, is a “debt
    collector.” See § 1692a(6)(F)(iii) (excluding from the term “debt collector” any
    person collecting or attempting to collect a debt for another that was not in default
    when acquired). But, when § 1692a(6)(F)(iii) is read in its statutory context, it
    reveals itself to be nothing more than a single exclusion for a certain group of
    persons from a statutory definition that Davidson effectively urges us to ignore.
    Section 1692a(6) clearly, plainly, and directly states that a person who is
    engaged in any business the principal purpose of which is debt collection or a
    person who regularly collects or attempts to collect debts owed or due another
    qualifies as a “debt collector.” See § 1692a(6). So, if subsection (F)(iii)’s
    exclusion is inapplicable because, for example, the subject debt was in default at
    the time it was acquired or the subject person is not collecting for another, the
    person may be a debt collector, but the person is not undoubtedly a debt collector;
    one of two statutory standards still must be met. See § 1692a(6). Davidson cannot
    rely on § 1692a(6)(F)(iii) to bring entities that do not otherwise meet the definition
    11
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    of “debt collector” within the ambit of the FDCPA solely because the debt on
    which they seek to collect was in default at the time they acquired it. Section
    1692a(6)(F)(iii) is an exclusion; it is not a trap door. 6
    Davidson’s misunderstanding of the effect of § 1692a(6)(F)(iii) also results
    in a strained construction of § 1692a(6)’s second definition of “debt collector.”7
    Drawing on subsection (F)(iii), Davidson contends that an entity that regularly
    collects debts originally owed to another, which debts were in default at the time
    they were acquired, qualifies as “debt collector” under the FDCPA. Put another
    way, Davidson reads the definition of “debt collector” to encompass any regular
    purchaser of a debt in default even if the purchaser owns the debt and is collecting
    for himself. As noted above, the term “debt collector” includes any person who
    “regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due
    or asserted to be owed or due another.” § 1692a(6). Davidson’s interpretation
    succeeds only if we rewrite the statutory text to read “regularly collects or attempts
    to collect, directly or indirectly, debts originally owed or due or asserted to be
    6
    We also note that § 1692a(6)(F)(iii) is limited in its applicability to “any person
    collecting or attempting to collect any debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another.”
    
    Id. § 1692a(6)(F)
    (emphasis added). Therefore, Davidson’s reliance on § 1692a(6)(F)(iii) is
    misplaced for two reasons: (1) because it is an exclusion, not a definition; and (2) because it
    cannot be read, either directly or indirectly, to apply to any person collecting or attempting to
    collect on a defaulted debt owed or due to him.
    7
    Davidson’s arguments on appeal are focused around the second definition of “debt
    collector.” See 
    id. § 1692a(6)
    (regular collection of debts for another). We are not asked to
    construct or otherwise interpret the first definition. See 
    id. (principal purpose).
                                                    12
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    originally owed or due another.” But we are not in the business of rewriting
    statutes.
    The statutory text is entirely transparent. A “debt collector” includes any
    person who regularly collects or attempts to collect debts owed or due another. See
    § 1692a(6). The statute does not define “another,” so we will look to the common
    usage of the word for its meaning. See, e.g., Consol. Bank, N.A. v. United States
    Dep’t of Treasury, 
    118 F.3d 1461
    , 1464 (11th Cir. 1997). The term “another” most
    naturally connotes “one that is different from the first or present one.” Merriam-
    Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 48 (10th ed. 1996). Applying this definition to
    the statutory language, this means that a person must regularly collect or attempt to
    collect debts for others in order to qualify as a “debt collector” under the second
    definition of the term. The word “another” is not modified or otherwise limited,
    and Davidson has pointed us to nothing that would indicate that Congress had any
    intention to limit the term. See CBS 
    Inc., 245 F.3d at 1224
    –26.
    In construing a statutory provision, “[w]e do not start from the premise that
    [the statutory] language is imprecise.” United States v. LaBonte, 
    520 U.S. 751
    ,
    757, 
    117 S. Ct. 1673
    , 1677 (1997). Congress limited the second definition of “debt
    collector” to those persons who regularly collect or attempt to collect debts owed
    or due or asserted to be owed or due another, and there is no ambiguity in the
    words that Congress chose to employ. See CBS 
    Inc., 245 F.3d at 1225
    (“Any
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    ambiguity in the statutory language must result from the common usage of that
    language, not from the parties’ dueling characterizations of what Congress ‘really
    meant.’”). Because we are not permitted to “do to the statutory language what
    Congress did not do with it,” Harris v. Garner, 
    216 F.3d 970
    , 976 (11th Cir. 2000)
    (en banc), we will not write into the phrase “owed or due another” the limiting
    adverb “originally” in order to express what Davidson thinks Congress intended,
    see CBS 
    Inc., 245 F.3d at 1223
    (reasoning that the appellant’s need to rewrite a
    statutory phrase was “further proof that the plain meaning of what Congress
    actually said [was] against [the appellant’s] position”).
    We will, as we must, “presume that Congress said what it meant and meant
    what it said.” United States v. Steele, 
    147 F.3d 1316
    , 1318 (11th Cir. 1998) (en
    banc). In doing so, we reject Davidson’s argument that a non-originating debt
    holder is a “debt collector” for purposes of the FDCPA solely because the debt was
    in default at the time it was acquired. The statute is not susceptible to such an
    interpretation. Instead, applying the plain language of the statute, we find that a
    person who does not otherwise meet the requirements of § 1692a(6) is not a “debt
    collector” under the FDCPA, even where the consumer’s debt was in default at the
    time the person acquired it. See United States v. Ron Pair Enters., Inc., 
    489 U.S. 235
    , 241, 
    109 S. Ct. 1026
    , 1030 (1989) (“[W]here, as here, the statute’s language is
    plain, ‘the sole function of the courts is to enforce it according to its terms.’”);
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    Harris, 216 F.3d at 976
    (“[Our] role . . . is to apply statutory language, not rewrite
    it.”).8
    B.
    We turn now to Davidson’s amended complaint. According to Davidson,
    the amended complaint sufficiently alleges that Capital One meets the definition of
    “debt collector” by alleging that Capital One “regularly acquires delinquent and
    defaulted consumer debts that were originally owed to others” and “has attempted
    to collect such delinquent or defaulted debts in the regular course of its business,
    using the mails and telephone system.” Taking these allegations, together with the
    8
    Davidson argues that our holding creates a loophole by which entities that regularly
    acquire and pursue collection of defaulted debts avoid the FDCPA even though such entities are
    engaged in debt collection. We disagree. An entity that may collect on a debt owned by and
    owed to it in the course of doing business falls outside of the Act’s intended scope. See S. Rep.
    No. 95–382, at 2–3 (intending “debt collector” to include “all third persons who regularly collect
    debts for others” to the exclusion of “a person who collects a debt for another in an isolated
    instance” or “those who [do not] collect for others in the regular course of business”). But an
    entity whose “principal purpose” is the collection of “any debts,” see § 1692a(6) (emphasis
    added) (“principal purpose” not modified by “owed or due another”), is subject to the FDCPA
    under the first definition of “debt collector,” see, e.g., 
    Pollice, 225 F.3d at 404
    (“no question that
    the ‘principal purpose’ of [defendant’s] business is the ‘collection of any debts’”); F.T.C. v.
    Check Investors, Inc., 
    502 F.3d 159
    , 174 (3d Cir. 2007) (noting that the defendant was “in
    business to . . . acquire seriously defaulted debt” solely for collection purposes). “Any debts”
    means “all debts,” including debts acquired from another, in default, or owed to the collecting
    entity. See CBS 
    Inc., 245 F.3d at 1223
    (noting that “any” means “every” or “all”). Therefore,
    where “principal purpose” is plausibly alleged, the entity described in Davidson’s harried
    hypothetical will not escape regulation. See S. Rep. No. 95–382, at 2–3 (“The primary persons
    intended to be covered are independent debt collectors.”). In any event, to the extent that such a
    loophole does exist, it is for Congress, not the courts, to close. See Artuz v. Bennett, 
    531 U.S. 4
    ,
    10, 
    121 S. Ct. 361
    , 365 (2000) (“Whatever merits these and other policy arguments may have, it
    is not the province of this Court to rewrite the statute to accommodate them.”); In re Hedrick,
    
    524 F.3d 1175
    , 1187–88 (11th Cir.), amended on reh’g in part, 
    529 F.3d 1026
    (11th Cir. 2008)
    (per curiam) (“[We are not] authorized to interpret a statute contrary to the plain meaning of its
    words if doing so would, in the court’s view, better further the purpose it thinks Congress had in
    mind.”).
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    amended complaint’s factual matter as a whole, in the light most favorable to
    Davidson, we find that Davidson has failed to allege “factual content that allows
    [us] to draw the reasonable inference that” Capital One is a “debt collector” under
    the Act. See 
    Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678
    , 129 S. Ct. at 1949.
    The amended complaint does not expressly state that the “principal purpose”
    of Capital One’s business is debt collection, as required by the first definition of
    “debt collector.” See § 1692a(6). However, the amended complaint does allege
    that “Capital One has attempted to collect . . . delinquent or defaulted debts in the
    regular course of its business, using the mails and telephone system in doing so.”
    To the extent that this allegation invokes the principal purpose concept, it is
    insufficient to establish Capital One’s status as a “debt collector.” The amended
    complaint provides a basis from which we can plausibly infer that some part of
    Capital One’s business is debt collection, but it fails to provide any basis from
    which we could plausibly infer that the “principal purpose” of Capital One’s
    business is debt collection. The first definition will not sustain Davidson’s action.
    As to the second definition of “debt collector,” Davidson argues that the
    amended complaint sufficiently alleges that Capital One is a “debt collector” by
    stating that Capital One “regularly acquires delinquent and defaulted consumer
    debts that were originally owed to others” and “has attempted to collect such . . .
    debts in the regular course of its business.” Davidson does not dispute that Capital
    16
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    One purchased, owns, and sought to collect on the defaulted and delinquent credit
    card accounts for itself. However, he contends that Capital One still fits the second
    definition of “debt collector” because it regularly collects debts that were originally
    owed to another and that were in default when Capital One acquired them.
    As discussed above, our inquiry under § 1692a(6) is not whether Capital
    One regularly collects on debts originally owed or due another and now owed to
    Capital One; our inquiry is whether Capital One regularly collects on debts owed
    or due another at the time of collection. The amended complaint makes no factual
    allegations from which we could plausibly infer that Capital One regularly collects
    or attempts to collect debts owed or due to someone other than Capital One.
    Because Capital One acquired Davidson’s credit card account (and the credit card
    accounts of the purported class members) from HSBC, Capital One’s collection
    efforts in this case relate only to debts owed to it—and not to “another.” That the
    credit card accounts were in default at the time they were acquired by Capital One
    does not bear on our determination here. As such, the amended complaint fails to
    sufficiently allege that Capital One is a “debt collector” under § 1692a(6) and thus
    subject to liability under the FDCPA.
    17
    Case: 14-14200    Date Filed: 08/21/2015   Page: 18 of 18
    IV.
    Because Davidson’s amended complaint does not plausibly allege that
    Capital One is a “debt collector” under the FDCPA, we affirm the district court’s
    dismissal of Davidson’s amended complaint.
    AFFIRMED.
    18
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 14-14200

Citation Numbers: 797 F.3d 1309

Filed Date: 8/21/2015

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 1/12/2023

Authorities (19)

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tito-pollice-violet-pollice-individually-and-on-behalf-of-all-others , 225 F.3d 379 ( 2000 )

Lonnie J. Hill v. Thomas E. White, Secretary of the Army , 321 F.3d 1334 ( 2003 )

Chad Schlosser and Frances Schlosser v. Fairbanks Capital ... , 323 F.3d 534 ( 2003 )

United States v. Ron Pair Enterprises, Inc. , 109 S. Ct. 1026 ( 1989 )

United States v. LaBonte , 117 S. Ct. 1673 ( 1997 )

Artuz v. Bennett , 121 S. Ct. 361 ( 2000 )

Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 129 S. Ct. 1937 ( 2009 )

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