Property manager sent tenant to collections for damages after move out inspection

[Chad Hederer]

Hi all,

I had a tenant move out leaving over $5k in damages.  My property manager company sent the past tenant a bill for the damages which the tenant did not respond to.  After giving the past tenant time to pay the bill the property management company then sent the tenant to collections without consulting me.  According to the property manager I am still able to fill a civil process for the damages.  This doesn't seem correct to me as the way I understand how collections works is the collection agency now owns that debt.  Can I still attempt to collect on these damages through a civil process?