LVNV Funding, LLC v. Trice

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LVNV collection agency bought Trice’s unpaid debt and filed suit. Trice later sought to vacate a judgment against him on the ground that LVNV was not an Illinois registered agency. The circuit court of Cook County declared sections of the Collection Agency Act (225 ILCS 425/4.5, 14, 14b) unconstitutional. The appellate court remanded after holding that “a complaint filed by an unregistered collection agency is … a nullity, and any judgment entered on such a complaint is void/” The circuit court then found the penalty provisions unconstitutional on grounds of due process, equal protection and vagueness, but held that though LVNV was unlicensed when it filed suit, the resulting judgment should have been “voidable rather than void.” The Illinois Supreme Court vacated the circuit court’s findings, rejected the analysis of the appellate court, and remanded. The circuit court’s initial denial of Trice’s petition was correct, LVNV has been granted relief on a nonconstitutional ground. Failure to comply with a statutory requirement or prerequisite does not negate the circuit court’s subject matter jurisdiction or constitute a nonwaivable condition precedent to that jurisdiction, so there was no need for the circuit court to address the Act’s constitutionality. View "LVNV Funding, LLC v. Trice" on Justia Law