David Hartsell

David L. Hartsell is co-chair of the firm’s consumer financial services litigation practice group. During the past 20 years, he has defended hundreds of class action and single-plaintiff lawsuits brought under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, Telephone Consumer Protection Act, Credit Repair Organizations Act, Truth-in-Lending Act, and comparable state laws governing consumer fraud and unfair business practices.

He has tried cases to verdict in state and federal courts in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Connecticut, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and Nevada. David also regularly represents clients in enforcement proceedings brought by the FTC, state attorneys general, and other regulatory authorities.

David recently effectively defended a credit card marketer/servicer before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving the enforceability of an arbitration clause in the credit card agreement.

EXPERIENCE :

• Representation in an FDCPA class action. Barred plaintiffs’ expert witness, and then obtained summary judgment in favor of defendant based on plaintiffs’ failure to meet evidentiary burden to show consumer confusion. Durkin v. Certegy Check Services, Inc., 406 F.3d 410 (7th Cir. 2005)
• Settlement offer letters did not violate FDCPA; rejecting Goswami. Headen v. Asset Acceptance LLC, 383 F.Supp.2d 1097 (S.D. Ind. 2005)
• Defense of interlocutory appeal brought by intervenors who objected to preliminary approval of proposed FDCPA class action settlement. Liles v. American Corrective Counseling Services, Inc., 350 F.3d 742 (8th Cir. 2003)
• Representation in reverse of class certification order and holding that there is no private cause of action for injunctive relief under FCRA. Washington v. CSC Credit Services, Inc., 193 F.3d 263 (5th Cir. 2000)
• Established right to collect service charges on bad checks as a form of incidental damages under UCC. Tuttle v. Equifax Check Services, Inc., 190 F.3d 9 (2nd Cir. 1999)

Education :

• University of Michigan, BA, with High Distinction
• University of Michigan Law School, JD

Admissions :

• Illinois
• Georgia
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois
• U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin