Bill Text: CA AB2440 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Fair debt collection practices: debt collector responsibilities.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-04-02 - Re-referred to Com. on B. & F. [AB2440 Detail]

Download: California-2017-AB2440-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Assembly  March 22, 2018

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2440

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Introduced by Assembly Member Acosta

February 14, 2018

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An act to amend Section 1431.2 of the Civil Code, relating to tort liability. add Section 1788.19 to the Civil Code, relating to debt collection.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2440, as amended, Acosta. Tort liability: joint and several liability. Fair debt collection practices: debt collector responsibilities.

The Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prohibits debt collectors from engaging in certain unlawful acts or practices, including using, or threatening the use of, physical force or violence, using obscene or profane language, and making false representations. The act also requires a debt collector to cease collection activities, until completion of a specified review, when an alleged debtor provides certain information to show that the debtor is a victim of an identity theft crime.

This bill would require a debt collector who is also the original creditor, upon determination that an alleged debt is not due and owning from a person, for any reason other than identity theft, to terminate debt collection activities based on this determination. The bill would also require a debt collector, upon request from a person under these circumstances, to provide a written notification to that person confirming that the debt is not due and owing within 30 calendar days after making its determination. The bill would additionally require a debt collector that has purchased the alleged debt or contracted with the original creditor to collect the alleged debt, within 10 days of being notified that the debt is not due and owing, to terminate collection. The bill would further require the debt collector, in cases in which adverse information about the person was furnished to a consumer credit reporting agency, within 10 business days after its determination, to notify the agency to correct and update that information.

The Fair Responsibility Act of 1986, enacted by the voters on June 3, 1986, as Proposition 51, an initiative measure, specifies that in any action for personal injury, property damage, or wrongful death, based upon the principles of comparative fault, the liability of each defendant for noneconomic damages shall be several only and shall not be joint. The act defines terms for that purpose. The act provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act’s purposes with a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements.

This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to that several liability provision.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NO   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Section 1788.19 is added to the Civil Code, to read:

1788.19.

 (a) If a debt collector who is also the original creditor makes a determination that an alleged debt is not due and owing from a person for any reason other than identity theft, the debt collector shall:

(1) Terminate debt collection activities based on its determination that the alleged debt is not due and owing from the person.

(2) Upon request from the person subject to the alleged debt, provide written notification confirming to that person that the alleged debt is not due and owing within 30 calendar days after making its determination.

(3) If the debt collector has furnished adverse information about the person to a consumer credit reporting agency, the debt collector, no later than 10 business days after making its determination, shall notify the agency to correct and update that information.

(4) Notify any debt collector that may have purchased the alleged debt or that has contracted with the original creditor to collect the alleged debt, no later than 10 business days after making its determination that the alleged debt is not due and owing.

(b) (1) A debt collector that has purchased the alleged debt described in subdivision (a), or that has contracted with the original creditor to collect the alleged debt described in subdivision (a), shall, within 10 business days of being notified pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) that the debt is not due and owing, terminate collection activities of that alleged debt.

(2) If the debt collector has furnished adverse information to a consumer credit reporting agency, the debt collector, no later than 10 business days after making its determination, shall notify the agency to correct and update that information.

SECTION 1.Section 1431.2 of the Civil Code is amended to read:

1431.2.

Several Liability for Non-economic Damages

(a)In any action for personal injury, property damage, or wrongful death, based upon principles of comparative fault, the liability of each defendant for non-economic damages shall be several only and shall not be joint. Each defendant shall be liable only for the amount of non-economic damages allocated to that defendant in direct proportion to that defendant’s percentage of fault, and a separate judgment shall be rendered against that defendant for that amount.

(b)(1)For purposes of this section, the term “economic damages” means objectively verifiable monetary losses including medical expenses, loss of earnings, burial costs, loss of use of property, costs of repair or replacement, costs of obtaining substitute domestic services, loss of employment, and loss of business or employment opportunities.

(2)For the purposes of this section, the term “non-economic damages” means subjective, non-monetary losses including, but not limited to, pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental suffering, emotional distress, loss of society and companionship, loss of consortium, injury to reputation, and humiliation.