Olivea Marx, Petitioner v. General Revenue Corporation (568 U.S. 371)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 26, 2013 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 568 U.S. 371 · 133 S. Ct. 1166
- Decided
- February 26, 2013
- Term
- October Term 2012
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Thomas
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(d)(1) gives district courts discretion to award costs to prevailing defendants “[u]nless a federal statute . . . provides otherwise.” The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 91 Stat. 881,15 U. S. C. § 1692k(a)(3), provides that “[o]n a finding by the court that an action under this section was brought in bad faith and for the purpose of harassment, the court may award to the defendant attorney’s fees reasonable in relation to the work expended and costs.” This case presents the question whether § 1692k(a)(3) “provides otherwise” than Rule 54(d)(1). We conclude that § 1692k(a)(3) does not “provid[e] otherwise,” and, thus, a district court may award costs to prevailing defendants in FDCPA cases without finding that the plaintiff brought the case in bad faith and for the purpose of harassment. I Petitioner Olivea Marx defaulted on a student loan guaranteed by EdFund, a division of the California Student Aid Commission. In September 2008, EdFund hired respondent General Revenue Corporation (GRC) to collect the debt. One month later, Marx filed an FDCPA enforcement action against GRC. Marx alleged that GRC had violated the FDCPA by harassing her with phone calls several times a day and falsely threatening to garnish up to 50% of her wages and to take the money she owed directly from her…
Excerpt of a 30,119-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.