A debt collector and a private ambulance company have been hit with a class action lawsuit accusing them of allegedly improperly attempting to collect debts for non-emergency ambulance transfers from people who were allegedly wrongly billed for more expensive emergency ambulance service.
On Jan. 29, named plaintiff Brenda Martin, identified only as a resident of Illinois, filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against Americollect Inc. and Medical Express Ambulance Service Inc. The lawsuit accused Medical Express of allegedly wrongly billing patients for emergency ambulance service, when providing non-emergency services. And the lawsuit then accused Americollect of improperly attempting to collect debts on those charges.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Martin and two putative classes, alleging that the defendants violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act. According to the complaint, Medical Express Ambulance Service intentionally misclassified a routine non-emergency ambulance transfer as a more expensive 'emergency' transport and engaged Americollect to collect the alleged balance from Martin.
The lawsuit seeks statutory damages, actual damages and punitive damages, plus attorney fees.
Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Michael Drew, of Neighborhood Legal, of Chicago; and Michael Wood and Celetha Chatman, of Community Lawyers LLC, of Chicago.