Brennan and Clark Lawsuit: FDCPA Claims and Consumer Reports

Brennan and Clark has faced 11 federal lawsuits since 1996 and a 2005 Ohio regulatory action, along with a steady flow of consumer complaints alleging harassing calls and attempts to collect from people who don’t owe the debt.¹ Whether you can sue the Oak Brook, Illinois firm yourself depends on a detail most people don’t expect: Brennan & Clark is a business-to-business commercial collector, and the federal law consumers usually rely on, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, mostly doesn’t reach commercial debts.

Lawsuits and Regulatory Actions on Record

According to a review of Public Access to Court Electronic Records, Brennan & Clark has been sued 11 times in federal court since 1996. The most recent of those federal suits was filed in 2012. Case names, courts, and outcomes for most of the docket are not detailed in publicly available records.¹

One identified case, Edmondson v. Brennan & Clark LLC et al., was filed in the Northern District of Indiana and dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.² That kind of dismissal is worth noting because it fits the pattern discussed below: federal consumer-protection claims against a commercial collector often fail on jurisdiction before the facts are ever reached.

The most prominent state-level action came in 2005, when Ohio regulators placed the firm’s debt collection license on two years of probation and fined the company $15,000 for its collection practices.¹ No major regulatory action against the firm has been publicly documented since.

What Consumers Say the Firm Does

Brennan & Clark’s Better Business Bureau profile lists 11 complaints filed in the past three years, two of them closed in the most recent 12 months.³ The allegations repeat a few themes:

Unsolicited, repeated pre-recorded calls and emails that consumers described as aggressive or intimidating.
Attempts to collect from people with no personal liability, including former employees of a business or people with no connection to the debtor at all.
Refusals to provide proof of the debt, with at least one agent reportedly telling a consumer that verification is not required for commercial accounts.³

A complaint filed as recently as May 2026 alleged unwanted pre-recorded commercial collection calls and cited potential violations of both the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the FDCPA. That consumer reported the firm to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission. Brennan & Clark responded that it had been trying to reach a person associated with a business on behalf of its client, Paychex, and confirmed it removed the complainant’s number from its records.³

Despite the complaints, the company holds an A+ BBB rating and has been accredited since November 2013.¹

How the Firm Responds

In BBB responses, Brennan & Clark has frequently attributed disputed contacts to administrative errors, such as an incorrect phone number or misidentifying a business contact. In several documented instances, the company apologized and confirmed it removed the complainant’s information from its database. When consumers alleged rude or aggressive behavior, the firm consistently denied using unfair tactics, saying its representatives “simply laid out the facts.”³

In one case where a consumer pressed for proof of a debt, the firm initially said it does not typically provide documentation for commercial accounts, then furnished the requested records and closed the file. The firm has also said in BBB responses that it does not report to any credit bureaus, so its collection activity would not directly appear on a consumer’s credit report.³

Why FDCPA Claims Often Fail Against Brennan and Clark

The FDCPA is the federal law most consumers turn to when a collector harasses them. It prohibits harassing, deceptive, and abusive collection tactics and allows consumers to sue for up to $1,000 in statutory damages per violation, plus actual damages and attorney fees. The statute of limitations is one year.⁴⁵

The catch is what the FDCPA covers. It applies only to debts incurred primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. It does not cover corporate debt or debt owed for business or agricultural purposes.⁶ A Congressional Research Service overview states plainly that “business debts ordinarily fall outside the FDCPA’s scope.”⁷

Brennan & Clark operates as a B2B commercial collector, which is why federal consumer-protection suits against it can run into jurisdiction problems, as they did in Edmondson. If the underlying debt is a business obligation, the FDCPA probably isn’t the tool. If the collector called you about someone else’s business debt and you are not the debtor, the analysis is different and worth walking through with a lawyer.

Where State Law May Still Reach

State law can pick up where the FDCPA stops. California amended its Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, effective July 1, 2025, to extend some consumer-style protections to parties facing collection of commercial debts of $500,000 or less. Other states have unfair or deceptive practices statutes that are not limited to consumer-purpose debts.

Pre-recorded call complaints also point to a separate federal statute, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which has its own rules for automated calls and does not depend on whether the debt is consumer or commercial. The May 2026 BBB complaint against Brennan & Clark invoked the TCPA alongside the FDCPA for that reason.³

If Brennan and Clark Is Calling You

A few practical steps follow from the record above. Ask, in writing, for validation of the debt and identification of the original creditor. The firm has provided documentation when pressed, even on commercial accounts. If the calls concern a business you no longer work for or have no connection to, tell the firm in writing to stop contacting you and keep a copy; the company’s own BBB responses show it removes numbers from its records when it accepts the contact was wrong. File complaints with the CFPB and FTC if the behavior continues, as the May 2026 complainant did. And before assuming you have an FDCPA claim, confirm whether the underlying debt is consumer or commercial, because that single fact often decides whether a federal lawsuit will survive.

1
Agruss Law Firm. Brennan Clark
2
Consumer Law Firm Center. Brennan Clark Debt Collection Harassment Stop the Calls
3
Better Business Bureau. Brennan and Clark Complaints
4
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is Harassment by a Debt Collector
5
Federal Trade Commission. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Text
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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CFPB FDCPA Examination Procedures
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Congress.gov. CRS Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Overview