SACRAMENTO – A woman alleges a debt collector unlawfully continued to contact her after it was notified she was represented by counsel.
Zia Haq filed a complaint on Aug. 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California against Citibank NA alleging violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
According to the complaint, the defendant began contacting the plaintiff in March regarding a status of a loan and to collect on the payments no longer being made. She alleges she retained counsel and her counsel sent the defendant a letter in April confirming representation and instructed it not to contact her. The suit states a second letter was sent in June, but the defendant continued to call her daily on her cellphone.
The plaintiff holds Citibank NA responsible because the defendant allegedly continued to call and attempted to make contact with her despite receiving notice that she retained counsel and used an automatic dialing machine.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment against defendant for actual and statutory damages, costs of litigation, attorney’s fees and injunctive relief. She is represented by Scott J. Sagaria, Elliot W. Gale, Jose B. Angelo and Scott M. Johnson of Sagaria Law PC in Roseville.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California case number 2:18-cv-02310