The borrower purchased the vehicle with an automobile loan from the lender. Nearly 14 months later, the borrower had fallen behind on her payments. The lender then sent an order to a repossession corporation to repossess the borrower’s vehicle. The repossession agent received a GPS notification and later identified the vehicle through a license plate reader hit at a nearby apartment complex, where he commenced repossession despite knowing repossession was dangerous under the circumstances and seeing the borrower inside the vehicle. After the agent placed grabber arms around the borrower’s vehicle, he realized he could not safely complete the repossession with the borrower inside. The agent approached the borrower’s vehicle window and instructed the borrower to exit the vehicle, but the borrower refused. Subsequently, the agent called local police. When police arrived, they again told the borrower to et out of the vehicle. It was not until the police threatened to remove her with force that the borrower finally exited the vehicle, and the agent finished the repossession process. The borrower filed suit for (1) unlawful repossession, (2) violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and (3) conversion.
In Roberts v. Image Recovery Serv., No. 24-cv-01119-JPG, 2025 WL 2896460, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 201554 (S.D. Ill. Oct. 10, 2025) (opinion not yet released for publication), the court granted summary judgment in favor of the borrower for unlawful repossession and breach of the FDCPA. According to Illinois law, a party may not engage in self-help repossession “if doing so would cause a breach of the peace.” Mimnaugh v. Toyota Motor Credit Corp., No. 04 C 4607, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64011, 2005 WL 8179044, at *2 (N.D. Ill. July 11, 2025). Because there had been no judicial process, the repossession was valid only if the agent accomplished it without breaching the peace. Illinois courts interpret breaching the peace as “conduct which incites or is likely to incite immediate public turbulence, or which leads to an immediate loss of public order and tranquility.” Chrysler Credit Corp. v. Koontz, 661 N.E.2d 1171, 1173 (Ill. App. Ct. 1996). The court relied on the fact that the agent started the repossession knowing the borrower was inside the vehicle. One court within the same circuit had found that repossessing an occupied vehicle constitutes a breach of the peace. Shue v. JMAC Distribution, LLC., 45 F. Supp. 3d 3, 7-8 (D. Mass. 2024). Additionally, the court found that the police officers' assistance in the repossession constituted a breach of the peace, holding that the dispute should be resolved by the courts, not by police officers. Because the court had granted summary judgment in favor of the borrower, she was also entitled to statutory damages, which the court calculated as “the cost of obtaining financing plus ten percent of the original cost of the collateral.” Yazzie v. Gurley Motor Co., CIV 14-555 JAP/SCY, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 192277, 2016 WL 7477770, at *8 (D.N.M Mar. 8, 2016). Furthermore, the repossession agent had violated the FDCPA, which protects consumers from abusive debt collection practices. The court concluded the borrower had met all three elements required for a violation of the law: (1) plaintiff was a consumer, (2) defendant was a debt collector, and (3) defendant violated the FDCPA. See Anderson v. Leading Edge Recovery Sols., LLC, No. 11-609-GPM, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141051, 2012 WL 4506012, at *4 n.1 (S.D. Ill. Sept. 30, 2012). The agent had breached the peace and thus lacked the present right to possess the vehicle. However, the court denied summary judgment on the borrower’s conversion claim because she failed to meet element two of a conversion claim: she lacked an absolute and unconditional right to possess her vehicle due to her default on the car loan. Therefore, the court granted the borrower’s motion for summary judgment on the claims of unlawful repossession and violation of the FDCPA, but denied the borrower's motion for summary judgment on the conversion claim.
By Olivia Lewis [email protected]
Edited by Annette Addo-Yobo [email protected]
Edited By Callighan Ard [email protected]
Edited By Hayden Mariott [email protected]