Florida injured workers who got a text from Tulsa Adjustment Bureau demanding payment for workers’ compensation medical care may be covered by a proposed class action alleging the collector misrepresented that they owed the bill. No class has been certified and there is nothing to file yet.
Allegations Only · No Settlement Yet
This article describes a class action complaint. The statements below are unproven allegations. Tulsa Adjustment Bureau, Inc. has not been found liable, there is no certified class, and nothing to claim at this time. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
What Is This About?
Tulsa Adjustment Bureau, Inc., an Oklahoma debt collector licensed as a consumer collection agency in Florida, is facing a proposed class action alleging it texted Florida injured workers to collect medical bills that were part of their workers’ compensation claims. Florida law generally makes the employer or its insurance carrier, not the injured worker, responsible for those bills. The complaint says telling a worker they owe such a bill is a false statement about the debt under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Tulsa Adjustment Bureau has not been found liable, and the allegations are unproven.The case is DePaoli v. Tulsa Adjustment Bureau, Inc., Case No. 8:26-cv-02708-WFJ-CPT, filed September 16, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division, by a Manatee County worker. It is assigned to Judge William F. Jung. (The court docket lists the defendant as “Adjustment Bureau, Inc.”; the complaint names Tulsa Adjustment Bureau, Inc.)
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What Does the Complaint Allege?
According to the complaint, the plaintiff received medical services from a Lakeland radiology practice around October 18, 2024 for a work injury. Because the care was workers’ compensation treatment, the complaint says, it was payable only by his employer’s workers’ comp carrier. The practice nonetheless sent the bill to Tulsa Adjustment Bureau for collection, and on or about October 21, 2025, the collector texted him that he owed $111.40.The complaint alleges that text was false because he was not legally obligated to pay it, and that Tulsa Adjustment Bureau uses a standard collection text, a copy of which is attached to the complaint as an exhibit, with other injured workers in the same situation. It also argues that a collection text about a debt the recipient does not owe is an invasion of privacy, which gives the plaintiff standing to sue in federal court under the 11th Circuit’s 2023 decision in Drazen v. Pinto.
Why Workers’ Comp Medical Bills Are Different
This case turns on a Florida rule many injured workers do not know about. Section 440.13 of the Florida Statutes says an employee “is not liable for payment for medical treatment or services” provided under the workers’ compensation law, except as that law provides, and that a health care provider “may not collect or receive a fee from an injured employee” except as the law allows. Providers are supposed to seek payment from the employer or its insurance carrier instead.In July 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which covers Florida, held in Crawford v. North American Credit Services, Inc. that trying to collect a debt for care covered by section 440.13 from the injured worker can violate the FDCPA. The Supreme Court declined to review that decision in November 2025. The Tulsa Adjustment Bureau complaint relies on Crawford directly.
Who Would Be Included?
The proposed class is narrow. It covers people whose Florida workers’ compensation claim is available for review on the Florida Office of the Judges of Compensation Claims website and who, from one year before the filing through class certification, received a text from Tulsa Adjustment Bureau demanding payment for medical care connected to that claim, where the bill had not been ruled their responsibility by a judge of compensation claims or the Florida Department of Financial Services.Excluded are Tulsa Adjustment Bureau, entities it controls, its agents and employees, the judge and the judge’s staff and family, and the plaintiff’s lawyers and their staff and family. The complaint itself estimates the class at “at least twenty” people. No class has been certified.
What Could Class Members Get?
Nothing is available now. The complaint asks for statutory damages under the FDCPA, which allows up to $1,000 for the named plaintiff, plus attorneys’ fees and costs. In an FDCPA class action, statutory damages for the rest of the class are capped at the lesser of $500,000 or 1% of the debt collector’s net worth. With a class the complaint estimates at around 20 people, the case matters more as a signal about workers’ comp collections than as a source of payouts.Got a Collection Notice for a Workers’ Comp Bill?
Some general points for Florida injured workers, not legal advice:• Check whether the care was part of your workers’ comp claim. If it was, Florida law generally makes the carrier, not you, responsible for the bill.
• Keep the texts and letters. The collector, the amount, the date and the provider named are the details that matter.
• You can dispute the debt. Federal rules let you dispute a debt with a collector and request information verifying it.
• Tell your adjuster or attorney. If you have a workers’ comp claim, the carrier handling it is the party the provider should be billing.
• Complaints go to regulators too. Consumers can file a complaint about a debt collector with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Florida licenses collection agencies through its Office of Financial Regulation.
What Happens Next?
Tulsa Adjustment Bureau must be served and respond, typically with an answer or a motion to dismiss. Likely early issues are whether the plaintiff has standing based on a single text, and whether a class this small and this specific can be certified. If the case settles, OCA will update this page.Questions
What is the Tulsa Adjustment Bureau class action about?
DePaoli v. Tulsa Adjustment Bureau, Inc. is a proposed class action filed September 16, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. It alleges the Oklahoma-based debt collector sent a text demanding payment for medical care that was part of a Florida workers' compensation claim, even though Florida law says the injured worker is not liable for those bills, and that the text therefore falsely stated the worker owed the debt in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Tulsa Adjustment Bureau has not been found liable, and the allegations are unproven.
Is there a Tulsa Adjustment Bureau settlement or claim form?
No. This is a newly filed lawsuit, not a settlement. There is no settlement fund, no claim form and no deadline, and no class has been certified.
Who would be included in the Tulsa Adjustment Bureau lawsuit?
The proposed class is narrow: people whose Florida workers' compensation claim appears on the Florida Office of the Judges of Compensation Claims website and who, from one year before the September 16, 2026 filing through class certification, received a text from Tulsa Adjustment Bureau demanding payment for medical care connected to that claim, where the bill had not been ruled their responsibility by a judge of compensation claims or the Florida Department of Financial Services. The complaint estimates at least 20 class members.
Do injured workers in Florida have to pay workers' comp medical bills?
Generally no. Section 440.13 of the Florida Statutes says an injured employee is not liable for payment for medical treatment provided under the workers' compensation law except as that law provides, and it bars health care providers from collecting a fee from an injured employee except as the law allows; providers have recourse against the employer or insurance carrier instead. In 2025 the federal appeals court covering Florida held in Crawford v. North American Credit Services that trying to collect such a debt from the injured worker can violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. This is general information, not legal advice.
Read the Complaint
Sources
• DePaoli v. Tulsa Adjustment Bureau, Inc., No. 8:26-cv-02708-WFJ-CPT (M.D. Fla.), Class Action Complaint filed September 16, 2026 (embedded above), and docket via CourtListener• Fla. Stat. § 440.13(3)(g) and (13)(a)
• Crawford v. North American Credit Services, Inc., No. 24-13931 (11th Cir. July 1, 2025), cert. denied (U.S. Nov. 17, 2025)
• Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692e and 1692k
