No. 19-3562 ___________________________

Dina Klein

Plaintiff - Appellant

v.

The Affiliated Group, Inc.; Credit Management

Defendants - Appellees ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the District of Minnesota ____________

Submitted: November 17, 2020 Filed: April 14, 2021 ____________ Before SHEPHERD, STRAS, and KOBES, Circuit Judges. ____________ KOBES, Circuit Judge.

Dina Klein received debt collection letters from The Affiliated Group and Credit Management, LP after she was treated at North Memorial Health Care. She sued the debt collectors, alleging that they violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq. The district court 1 granted summary judgment to the debt collectors and Klein appeals. We affirm.

I.

Dina Klein owed money to North Memorial Health Care. She applied to North Memorial for financial assistance, but her application was denied. In November 2017, North Memorial hired The Affiliated Group (TAG) to collect the debt. TAG sent Klein a letter that month informing her that “the below listed account(s) has been turned over to us by our client, who has given you an opportunity to satisfy this obligation.” Add. 2. TAG’s letter did not mention anything about North Memorial’s financial assistance policy.

When TAG sent its letter in November 2017, both TAG and Credit Management, LP (CMLP) were wholly-owned but separate subsidiaries of The CMI Group. The district court thought that TAG and CMLP “merged” on January 1, 2018, D. Ct. Dkt. 80 at 3, but Klein disputes this, saying that the “record evidence does not support a corporate merger between TAG and CMLP,” Klein Br. 22 (emphasis omitted). The district court inferred that the entities merged because all of TAG’s contracts, assets, employees, obligations, and rights were assigned or transferred to CMLP—including TAG’s written agreement with North Memorial for debt collection services. After the two companies consolidated accounts under the CMLP label, CMLP restarted debt collection under its own name, and sent a substantially similar letter to Klein in March 2018.

At all relevant times, North Memorial had an agreement with the Minnesota Attorney General requiring North Memorial to enter into written contracts with any third-party debt collection agency. The agreement required North Memorial to include contract language which would oblige debt collectors to comply with federal

1 The Honorable Donovan W. Frank, Senior United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota

-2- law and would require North Memorial to confirm that the patient was given a reasonable opportunity to apply for charitable care or other need-based relief.

After receiving the CMLP letter, Klein sued TAG and CMLP, arguing that they violated the FDCPA by failing to have a written contract as required by North Memorial’s agreement with the Minnesota Attorney General, making false statements in the March 2018 letter, and failing to include information about North Memorial’s financial assistance policy in the November 2017 and March 2018 letters. The district court analyzed each of Klein’s points, concluded that none of them carried the day, and entered summary judgment in favor of TAG and CMLP.

Klein appeals, making three arguments: (1) the district court erred by granting summary judgment while there was still a genuine dispute over material facts; (2) t