William Edward Dorsey

IN THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND
at Greenbelt
In Re: 	Case No. 07-21082PM
Chapter 13
William Edward Dorsey, Jr.,
Debtor.
William Edward Dorsey, Jr.,
Movant,
v.
PRA Receivables Management, LLC, as agent
of Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC,
successor in interest to Capital One Bank ,
Respondent.
MEMORANDUM OF DECISION
This matter came before the court on the Debtor's Objection to Proof of Claim filed by
Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC (Claim No. 8). Despite proper service of process, no response
was filed.
This case was filed on November 6, 2007, under chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code. The
Debtor's Schedule F filed with the petition reflected credit card debt in the amount of $1,232.00 to
"Capital 1 Bank" c/o TSYS Debt Management, Acct. No. 438864150626, "Opened 10/23/98 Last
Active 9/27/07." Schedule F was amended on April 23, 2008, disputing the "Capital 1 Bank" debt
as "debtor is only an authorized user with his wife, he never used this card and has reason to believe
he satisfied this debt after litigation was initiated by creditor." This is not the credit card account
that is the subject of the Objection as Claim No. 8 refers to another credit card debt that was not
scheduled by the Debtor.
Date signed June 20, 2008
Entered: June 20, 2008 Case 07-21082 Doc 27 Filed 06/20/08 Page 1 of 3

PRA Receivables Management, LLC, as agent of Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC,
successor in interest to Capital One Bank ("Portfolio"), filed Claim No. 8 on March 10, 2008,
asserting an unsecured pre-petition claim of $1,414.13, the stated basis for the claim being "credit
card." The Supplement attached to Claim No. 8 reflected the following:
Acct. #: ************4206
Acct. Type: Credit Card
Date of Loan: 11/21/1998
Charge Off Date: 3/27/2001
Last Payment Date: 8/14/2000
Balance at Filing Date: $1,414.13
No supporting documentation was appended to the Proof of Claim, such as account payment
records or the credit card loan agreement.
The Debtor's Objection, filed on May 13, 2008, asserted that Portfolio failed to supply
supporting documentation, restated the information provided on amended Schedule F as to the
Debtor being merely an authorized user of the credit card and that the amount claimed had been
previously satisfied. These contentions were unsupported by affidavit or other competent evidence
and insufficient to overcome the evidentiary effect accorded by F.R.B.P. 3001(f) to a properly filed
proof of claim. Fortunately for the Debtor, he also asserted that Claim No. 8 is barred by the
Maryland statute of limitations as uncollectible debt and thus not subject to allowance by virtue of
§502(b)(1) of the Bankruptcy Code that provides:
(b) Except as provided in subsections (e)(2), (f), (g), (h) and (I) of this section, if
such objection to a claim is made, the court, after notice and a hearing, shall
determine the amount of such claim in lawful currency of the United States as of the
date of the filing of the petition, and shall allow such claim in such amount, except to
the extent that--
(1) such claim is unenforceable against the debtor and property of the debtor, under
any agreement or applicable law for a reason other than because such claim is
contingent or unmatured;
In addition to disallowance of Portfolio's claim, the Debtor requested the imposition of sanctions in
the form of reasonable attorney fees, but no authority was cited for this proposition and no sanctions
will be imposed.
As Portfolio failed to respond to the Debtor's Objection, the court will treat the Objection in
the nature of a motion for judgment on the pleadings and will focus on the Debtor's assertion of the
affirmative defense that the debt is barred by the Maryland statute of limitations. Based on the
Supplement attached to Claim No. 8, the claim asserted by Portfolio, on its face, is stale. The
Case 07-21082 Doc 27 Filed 06/20/08 Page 2 of 3

Maryland statute of limitations (MD . CODE ANN ., COURTS AND J UDICIAL PROCEEDINGS § 5-
101(2008)) provides:
A civil action at law shall be filed within three years from the date it accrues unless
another provision of the Code provides a different period of time within which an
action shall be commenced.
Claim No. 8 reflects this account was purchased from Capital One Bank on August 21, 2007, and
that the last payment date was August 14, 2000, with the account being charged off on March 27,
2001, more than six years prior to the filing of this case. Having failed to respond to the Objection
in support of its Proof of Claim, and its attachment being an admission that the claim is time-barred
and thus unenforceable, the court will sustain the Debtor's Objection and disallow Portfolio's Claim
No. 8.
The court notes that the circumstances of this case are not unusual. The claims registry has
become plagued with stale claims purchased by Portfolio and other entities. This trend is
particularly disheartening where, unlike the subject case, a debtor is unrepresented and/or the
Chapter 13 Trustee takes no action, and these time-barred claims, purchased for pennies on the
dollar, are being allowed and paid at the same rate as otherwise enforceable claims.
An appropriate Order will be entered.
cc: 	United States Trustee
Chapter 13 Trustee
Debtor
Debtor's Counsel
PRA Receivables Management, LLC
Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, c/o Dolores Garcia
National Registered Agents, Inc.
End of Memorandum of Decision
Case 07-21082 Doc 27 Filed 06/20/08 Page 3 of 3