H/T Dave Krieger!
Congrats to Parker & DuFresne, PA, in Jacksonville, FL, who represented the Plaintiffs
2015 WL 3866872
Only the Westlaw citation is currently available.
United States District Court, M.D. Florida,
Jacksonville Division.
Ronald GOODIN and Deborah J. Goodin, Plaintiffs,
v.
BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., Defendant.
No. 3:13–cv–102–J–32JRK.
| Signed June 23, 2015.
Attorneys and Law Firms
Austin Tyler Brown, Earl Warren Parker, Jr., Parker &
DuFresne, PA, Jacksonville, FL, for Plaintiffs.
Andrew Kemp–Gerstel, J. Randolph Liebler, Liebler,
Gonzalez & Portuondo, PA, Miami, FL, for Defendant.
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
TIMOTHY J. CORRIGAN, District Judge.
*1 What do you do when your bank repeatedly tries to
collect a debt that is not due, you repeatedly try to tell
them that they are making a mistake but they just won’t
listen, and then they file a foreclosure action on your home?
Ronald and Deborah Goodin, sued, alleging that Bank of
America violated the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices
Act (“FDCPA”) and the related Florida Consumer Collection
Practices Act (“FCCPA”). (Doc. 26). The case was tried
before the Court on February 11 and 12, 2015 (Doc. 95; Doc.
96), and the parties subsequently submitted proposed findings
of fact and conclusions of law (Doc. 100–1; Doc. 101). The
case is now ready for decision. 1 Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a).
[…]
footnote:
*16 The goal of punitive damages is to punish gross
negligence and to deter such future misconduct. Thus, the
award must be large enough to get Bank of America’s
attention, otherwise these cases become an acceptable “cost
of doing business.” Bank of America is a huge company with
tremendous resources, a factor that the Court may and has
considered in determining an appropriate award. See Myers
v. Cent. Florida Investments, Inc., 592 F.3d 1201, 1216 (11th
Cir.2010). 17 Also, this is a serious FCCPA case, in which
there were a large number of violations that occurred over
a long period of time, and in which the Bank ignored the
Goodins’ repeated attempts to fix its many errors. The Court,
as fact-finder, finds that the Goodins have proven by clear
and convincing evidence that a punitive damages award of
$100,000 is appropriate. 18
[…]
