The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has reopened a suit claiming a law firm specializing in consumer collections tacked on unauthorized charges to the amounts owed by debtors.

The appeals court said a U.S. district court judge in Camden dismissed the suit against Lyons, Doughty & Veldhuis of Mount Laurel without giving the plaintiff’s lawyer a chance to respond to an argument made on the firm’s behalf. And the Third Circuit judges disagreed with the assertion by lawyers for Lyons Doughty that any error made by the judge below was a harmless one.