Sixth Circuit reverses summary disposition; holds firm may be accountable for misleading debt notice

In  Buchanan v. Northland Group, the majority of a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that the Defendant could possibly be held accountable for its debt collection notice that offered a "settlement" of debts that were time-barred and therefore no longer enforceable.  The Court held that the "settlement offer" letter authored by Northland may have run afoul of debt collection law, since it did not inform recipients that they could no longer be sued to collect the debts, due to their age.  The panel concluded that it will be a question of fact for jurors to determine whether the "settlement offers" the firm mailed were misleading in that they could be deemed a "threat of litigation."