Badeen v. PAR, Inc.

George Badeen (a licensed collection agency manager) and Midwest Recovery and Adjustment, Inc. (a licensed collection agency that Badeen owned and operated) brought a class action against PAR, Inc.; Remarketing Solutions; CenterOne Financial Services, LLC; and numerous other lenders and forwarding companies doing business in Michigan. Plaintiffs alleged that defendant "forwarding companies" acted as collection agencies under Michigan law but did so without a license, in violation of MCL 339.904(1), and that defendant lenders, who hired the forwarding companies, violated Michigan law by hiring unlicensed collection agencies, in violation of MCL 445.252(s). Plaintiffs further alleged that the violations injured them by impeding their business while not complying with Michigan law. Defendants moved for summary judgment, arguing that the forwarding companies did not satisfy the definition of "collection agency" because the phrase "soliciting a claim for collection" in that statute referred to asking the debtor to pay the debt, which the forwarding companies did not do. The court granted defendants’ motion. The Court of Appeals affirmed. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that the forwarding companies indeed did fall within the statutory definition of collection agencies. Accordingly, the Court vacated Part III(B) of the Court of Appeals' judgment, and remanded this case to the Circuit Court for further proceedings. View "Badeen v. PAR, Inc." on Justia Law