No Injury, No Standing, No Entry to Florida State Court

On February 26, 2024, a Florida state court, following federal law concepts, ruled under state law that a plaintiff’s alleged statutory violations, with the only “injury” being a fear of future harm, lacked the required standing to stay in state court.

In Scott v. Collectco, Inc. d/b/a EOS CCA, The Sessions Firm defended EOS when the plaintiff alleged violations of the FDCPA and state law negligence claims. Specifically, the plaintiff claimed a collection letter was sent utilizing a third-party letter vendor (Hunstein “violation”) and had misleading language regarding the deadline to dispute.

Relying on developing Florida law that analyzed standing based on 3 familiar principles: injury in fact, causation, and redressability, the court found no real injury. Said differently: no objective injury, no right to file in state court.

The court specifically ruled that the plaintiff failed to plead any “concrete, particularized, and actual or imminent” injury.

Florida courts are starting to trend towards only allowing cases with actual injuries and throwing out speculative injury cases.