Alborzian

A lender that lends money used to purchase a parcel of property and that holds a junior lien on that property cannot sue the borrower personally for the loan balance if the senior lienholder that also contributed to the purchase of the property forecloses on the property but does not collect enough from the foreclosure sale to pay off the junior lienholder. (Code Civ. Proc., former § 580b, as amended by Stats. 1989, ch. 698, § 12, p. 2289.) Can the borrower sue the junior lienholder for trying to collect the no-longer-enforceable debt if the lienholder’s collection efforts inaccurately imply that the debt is still enforceable? We conclude that the borrower may sue the debt collector under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) ( 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq.) and may sue the junior lienholder or its debt collector under the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (Rosenthal Act) (Civ. Code, § 1788 et seq.) and the unfair competition law (UCL) (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200 et seq.). However, the borrower may not sue for violations of the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) (Civ. Code, § 1750 et seq.). We accordingly affirm in part and reverse in part the trial…