The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] unanimously Monday in Sheriff v. Gillie [SCOTUSblog materials] that the use of official state letterhead by private debt collectors retained by the state was not misleading. Ohio law allows the state’s Attorney General to retain private debt collectors as “special counsel” to collect debts owed to state institutions. The issues before the court were whether special counsel are “state officers” within the meaning of 15 USC § 1692a(6)(C) [text]; and whether it is materially misleading under 15 USC § 1692e [text] for special counsel to use Attorney General letterhead. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the court: “Assuming, arguendo, that special counsel do not rank as “state officers,” we hold, nevertheless, that their use of the Attorney General’s letterhead does not offend §1692e.”

Monday’s ruling reverses the decision [opinion, PDF] of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which found that, “a jury could reasonably find that the use of the Ohio Attorney General’s letterhead by the “special counsel” acting as independent debt collectors … to result in deceptive, misleading and false representations in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case in March after granting certiorari [JURIST report] in December.