Missouri Appellate Court Upholds Decision to Dismiss Attorney General's Lawsuit Against Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRAA)

Portfolio Recovery Associates, Inc. PRAA announced today that the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District has upheld the decision of a lower court to dismiss a lawsuit by the Missouri Attorney General against its subsidiary, Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC. The case, State of Missouri v. Portfolio Recovery Associates, Inc. et al., which alleged that PRA and Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC violated Missouri's Merchandising Practices Act (MPA) by engaging in unfair debt collection practices, was previously dismissed by the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis last June. On April 5, 2011, the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District affirmed last year's decision by The Circuit Court, again rejecting the Attorney General's attempt to apply the MPA to debt collection. In its ruling, the Court of Appeals commented that "we cannot undertake a legislative role and write into the MPA language that simply does not exist."