O'Dell v. Nat'l Recovery Agency

In this case, the plaintiff seeks to have the court certify a class of individuals who she alleges have been subject to violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by the defendant when it improperly aged a large number of consumer accounts in its efforts to collect debts owed to a local hospital. This is a tenuous case involving a technical violation, and the harm is difficult to pinpoint. Nonetheless, in a motion for class certification, it is established law that "merits inquiry is not permissible when [the] merits issue is unrelated to a Rule 23 requirement." In re Cmty. Bank of…