Balch’s Jason Tompkins Shares Insights on Lollis v. Southwest Credit Systems

Jason Tompkins, partner in the Birmingham office and chair of the Issues & Appeals Practice, shared insights on Lollis v. Southwest Credit Systems with AccountsRecovery.net's Compliance Digest blog on June 13, 2022. The complaint was filed in federal court in Florida on May 23, 2022. 

Lollis v. Southwest Credit Systems is a class-action complaint that has been filed in federal court in Florida accusing a collection agency of ignoring opt-out requests sent by an individual who received text messages from the agency attempting to collect on a debt, and because when the individual attempted to call one of the phone numbers used to send one of the text messages, the number was allegedly not in service.

Jason shared that while this complaint doesn’t explicitly arise under Regulation F, it illustrates the pitfalls of collectors having systems that do not accurately process opt-outs, time-and-place limitations, and other nuances requested by debtors. The problem arose when the collector’s opt-out option wasn’t effective. Any text message requesting cessation should have sufficed, but certainly one including the word “stop,” no matter how many other words accompanied it. Sending messages without providing any reasonable way to stop the messages will lead to class actions like this and, after Regulation F, the ire of the CFPB.

Jason serves as Chair of Balch’s Issues & Appeals Practice and has extensive experience handling appeals in federal and state appellate courts, including serving as counsel in the United States Supreme Court. His appellate experience spans nearly every category, including consumer finance, energy, environmental, and administrative law.

Much of Jason’s practice focuses on class action defense, particularly in the area of consumer finance litigation. Jason has been lead counsel on more than 60 class actions and hundreds of individual cases involving claims under the FDCPA, FCRA, and TCPA. He acts as regional and national counsel for several financial services clients who trust him to coordinate defense strategy across numerous jurisdictions—both at the trial and appellate levels. He served for three years as Co-Chair of the ABA’s Consumer Litigation Committee and currently serves on ACA’s Member Attorney Program Committee.