Uniform Trial Court Rule (UTCR) 5.180 and UTCR 15.030 will go into effect on August 1, 2019.

UTCR 5.180(2) places requirements on debt buyers and debt collectors acting on behalf of debt buyers (collectively referred to in this memo as “Debt Buyers”). UTCR 5.180(3) places requirements on all other debt collection cases. UTCR 15.030 makes those requirements applicable to small claims debt collection cases. This memo outlines each requirement contained within the new UTCRs.

Background
UTCR 5.180 and UTCR 15.030 are the result of recommendations made by the Oregon Civil Justice Improvements Task Force (CJI Task Force), which included judges, trial court administrators, attorneys from multiple disciplines and geographic areas across the state, representatives from the Oregon State Bar, and support staff from the Oregon Judicial Department (OJD). The CJI Task Force recommended proposed UTCR 5.180 to former Chief
Justice Balmer, and current Chief Justice Walters submitted that proposal to the UTCR Committee last fall. The UTCR Committee posted the proposed rule for public comment and created a workgroup to address concerns expressed by debt collectors. The workgroup made changes to proposed UTCR 5.180 and recommended the new small claims rule, UTCR 15.030.  It submitted those changes to the UTCR Committee in the spring. The UTCR Committee
reviewed and approved the changes, and recommended the proposed rules to Chief Justice Walters for adoption. Chief Justice Walters adopted the proposed rules, which will go into effect on August 1, 2019.