CLARKSBURG — A consumer has filed a class-action lawsuit against National Hospital Collections LLC, a debt collector, citing alleged invasion of privacy, unlawful collection practices and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Rachelle O'Dell filed a complaint on June 20, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia against National Hospital Collections LLC alleging that the debt collector violated the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that, on August 14, 2015, she received a collection letter titled "Collection Warning Letter" that did not advise her of her rights to validate and/or verify the debt. And in early December 2015, she received harassing telephone collection calls from the defendant, she alleges, adding that the defendant's conduct caused her undue and unreasonable harassment, oppression, abuse, aggravation, annoyance and inconvenience. The plaintiff holds National Hospital Collections LLC responsible because the defendant allegedly attempted to collect a debt by coercion, threatened to take action prohibited by law, used fraudulent, deceptive or misleading representation, and used unfair or unconscionable means to collect a debt.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment against the defendant for compensatory, actual and statutory damages, attorneys' fees and costs and such other relief as the court deems proper. She is represented by Ralph C. Young, Christopher B. Frost, Steven R. Broadwater Jr. and Jed R. Nolan of Hamilton, Burgess, Young & Pollard PLLC in Fayetteville.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia Case number 1:16-cv-00127
