By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired)

Bank’s two letters attempting debt collection violated discharge injunction. Chapter 7 debtors reopened their case and court found that a bank, with knowledge of the prior discharge, had mailed two letters to debtors that were attempts to collect the discharged debt. The second letter was sent after debtors’ attorney had written the bank that it should cease collection efforts. The debtors’ actual damages were their $3,050 attorney fees, and $500 punitive sanction was awarded, reduced from the $100,000 sanction requested by debtors. In re Szenes . . .