POOLER, Circuit Judge:
Appeal from the June 11, 2014 judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Ross, J.) dismissing Isaac Altman's putative class-action lawsuit against J.C. Christensen & Associates, Inc. Altman alleges that J.C. Christensen violated the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act ("FDCPA") by offering to settle his debt for less than the full amount without warning him that his total savings might be reduced by an increase in his tax liability. We disagree, and hold that a debt collector need not warn of possible tax consequences when making a settlement offer for less than the full amount owed to comply with FDCPA.
J.C. Christensen is a "debt collector" within the meaning of FDCPA. See 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6). Altman is a "consumer" as defined by that statute. See 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(3). On or about May 17, 2003, Altman received a letter ("Letter")
App'x at 13 (italics added). Altman's complaint alleges that this language is deceptive because the forgiven debt may be taxable under the Internal Revenue Code.
"We review de novo a district court's decision to grant a motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c)." Hayden v. Paterson, 594 F.3d 150, 160 (2d Cir.2010). We "employ[] the same standard applicable to dismissals pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6)." Johnson v. Rowley, 569 F.3d 40, 43 (2d Cir.2009) (internal quotation marks and alteration omitted). Thus, we accept all factual allegations in the complaint as true and draw all reasonable inferences in plaintiff's favor. Hayden, 594 F.3d at 160.
"Congress enacted FDCPA in order `to eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors, to insure that those debt collectors who refrain from using abusive debt collection practices are not competitively disadvantaged, and to promote consistent State action to protect consumers against debt collection abuses.'" Greco v. Trauner, Cohen & Thomas, L.L.P., 412 F.3d 360, 363 (2d Cir.2005) (quoting 15 U.S.C. § 1692(e)). Consistent with these objectives, our Court "construe[s] FDCPA to require that debt collection letters be viewed from the perspective of the `least sophisticated consumer.'" Id. (quoting Clomon v. Jackson, 988 F.2d 1314, 1318-19 (2d Cir.1993)). As we explained in Greco:
Id. (internal citation and quotation marks omitted).
FDCPA generally bars the use of "false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt." 15 U.S.C. § 1692e. Section 1692e sets forth a non-exhaustive list of sixteen practices specifically prohibited, including a catch-all provision that bars "[t]he use of any false representation or deceptive means to collect or attempt to collect any debt or to obtain information concerning a consumer." 15 U.S.C. § 1692e(10). A single violation of § 1692e is sufficient to hold a debt collector liable pursuant to FDCPA. See 15 U.S.C. § 1692k (establishing civil liability for "any debt collector who fails to comply with any provision of this subchapter").
Altman argues that, by specifying the savings that he would enjoy if he accepted one of the choices set forth in the letter without warning him that any savings might be offset by possible tax consequences, J.C. Christensen violated FDCPA. Altman relies on Ellis v. Cohen & Slamowitz, LLP, 701 F.Supp.2d 215 (N.D.N.Y.2010), which allowed a similar claim to survive a motion to dismiss. In Ellis, the plaintiff argued that a letter from a debt collector "offering to discount or forgive $1,924.91, or 30% of the debt," failed to notify him of the possible tax consequences in violation of FDCPA. Id. at 219-20. The district court found that:
Id. at 220 (internal citations omitted).
We agree with the district court below that Ellis is unpersuasive. The Letter at issue here plainly states that the percentage saved is "on your outstanding account balance." The fact that a debtor may then have to pay tax on the amount saved is simply not deceptive in the context of what the savings are on a debtor's "outstanding account balance." See, e.g., Schaefer v. ARM Receivable Mgmt., Inc., No. 09-11666-DJC, 2011 WL 2847768, at * 5 (D.Mass. July 19, 2011) (holding that "[t]he language of the FDCPA does not require a debt collector to make any affirmative disclosures of potential tax consequences when collecting a debt," and that "requiring, as a matter of law, debt collectors to inform a debtor of such a potential collateral consequence of settling a pre-existing debt seems far afield from even the broad mandate of FDCPA to protect debtors from abusive debt collection practices."); Landes v. Cavalry Portfolio Servs., LLC, 774 F.Supp.2d 800, 801, 804 (E.D.Va.2011) (finding that debt collector's letter stating that it "wants [plaintiff] to get the most out of your tax refund this year" and that it "wants [plaintiff] to get tax season savings!" without advising of the tax consequences of acceptance did not violate FDCPA because "a careful reading of the letter reveals that the only promise being
For the reasons given above, we affirm.