An Illinois woman has filed a class-action lawsuit against a Chicago-based debt collection firm, alleging the firm improperly attempted to collect a medical debt she owed, according to The Cook County Record.
Here are six things to know about the lawsuit.
1. The plaintiff in the lawsuit, Angelica Griffin, filed her complaint Sept. 16 against the firm of Harris & Harris.
2. In the lawsuit, Ms. Griffin said she has owed a debt for unpaid bills to Northwestern Medicine since at least 2015 for medical services her child received, according to the report. Ms. Griffin claims she set up a payment plan with the Chicago-based health system, purportedly agreeing to a payment plan of $50 per month.
3. While Ms. Griffin alleged she never missed a payment under that plan with Northwestern, she said beginning last month she received three letters from the Harris & Harris indicating she was delinquent, and demanding she pay them $681, in installments if she wanted, according to the report, which cites the lawsuit.
4. Ms. Griffin alleged that though she received the collection letters, she had never been notified by Northwestern of any problems with her payments, and had never agreed to any payment plan involving the Harris firm or its affiliated companies, the report states.
5. Ms. Griffin believes Harris has behaved similarly toward others like her, and in her complaint asked the court to create three classes of additional plaintiffs, reports The Cook County Record.
6. She is seeking actual damages, plus an additional $1,000. She also asked the court to order Harris & Harris to pay at least $500,000, plus attorney fees, if her complaint ends up as a class-action suit, acording to the report.