Reichert

Introduction

This is an action by a debtor against a debt collection agency for statutory damages and attorney’s fees in connec- tion with attempts to collect a debt that the debtor owed his former landlord. It requires us to interpret the bona fide error defense provision of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) that we most recently considered in Clark v. Cap- ital Credit & Collection Services, Inc., 460 F.3d 1162 (9th Cir. 2006). 8138 REICHERT v. NATIONAL CREDIT SYSTEMS The problem with the debt that the debt collection agency tried to collect in this case is that it included, on its face, a $225 fee that the landlord’s attorney charged for writing a let- ter. Under the terms of the residential lease, and consistent with most contracts and leases in Arizona, see, e.g., Andrews v. Blake, 69 P.3d 7, 22 & n.15 (Ariz. 2003); see also Lisa v. Strom, 904 P.2d 1239, 1242 & n.2 (Ariz. Ct. App. 1995), the landlord was not entitled to collect any attorney’s fee unless it was incurred in connection with pursuing successful litiga- tion. The district court granted summary judgment for the debtor, holding that the debt collection agency had violated a provision of the…