In Smith v. Spizzirri, 2024 WL 2193872 (U.S. May 16, 2024), the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling holding that courts must stay, rather than dismiss, cases that are subject to arbitration. The unanimous decision...more
Last Thursday, the Supreme Court upheld the Congressional funding mechanism used to fund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), overruling a Fifth Circuit decision that found the funding mechanism violated the...more
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia has recently ruled that a consumer cannot maintain a claim under the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act (GFBPA) where the claim arises out of a loan...more
On June 23, 2023, in Coinbase v. Bielski, the Supreme Court issued a ruling holding that a district court must stay its proceedings while an interlocutory appeal of the issue of arbitration is ongoing. The 5-4 decision...more
6/26/2023
/ Arbitration ,
Automatic Stay ,
Coinbase ,
Coinbase Inc v Bielski ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
Motion to Compel ,
Online Platforms ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays
On Monday, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed sanctions levied by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau due to its conduct during discovery. The CFPB...more
6/15/2023
/ Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
Depositions ,
Discovery ,
Discovery Disputes ,
Discovery Violations ,
FRCP 37(b) ,
Motion for Sanctions ,
Sanctions
In Pucillo v. National Credit Systems, Inc., No. 21-3131, 2023 WL 3090627 (7th Cir. Apr. 26, 2023), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's dismissal of the plaintiff's FDCPA claims for lack of...more
In a recent opinion, the Second Circuit considered a second challenge to the funding structure of the CFPB, upholding it as constitutional.
On October 19, 2022, this issue was first considered by the Fifth Circuit in...more
On Monday, February 27, the United States Supreme Court granted the petition for a writ of certiorari in the case Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America, Ltd., No. 22-448,...more
On January 11, 2023, the Third Circuit held that attempting to collect on a default judgment did not constitute using "'false, deceptive, or misleading' representations in connection with collecting the judgment" if the...more
In Macris v. Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC, 2022 WL 16727611 (2d Cir. Nov. 7, 2022), the Second Circuit upheld summary judgment for a mortgage servicer, holding that the plaintiff could not pursue claims under the Fair...more
In Pierre v. Midland Credit Management, Inc., — F.4th —, 2022 WL 986441 (7th Cir. Apr. 1, 2022), the Seventh Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a claim under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), finding that the...more
4/11/2022
/ Article III ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
Dismissals ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Standing ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Time-Barred Debt
Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 578 U.S. 330 (2016), federal courts have continued to examine what is an injury in fact under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”). On April 4, 2022, the...more
4/8/2022
/ Article III ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Reports ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Job Applicants ,
Screening Procedures ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing
In Beal v. Outfield Brew House, LLC, — F.4th —, 2022 WL 868697 (8th Cir. Mar. 24, 2022), the Eighth Circuit considered whether an automated marketing system that was used to send promotional text messages to randomly selected...more
The latest update surrounding Hunstein v. Preferred Collection and Management Services, Inc., Case No. 19-14434 centers not on the Eleventh Circuit or the Hunstein decision itself but on the district courts nationwide that...more
2/4/2022
/ Article III ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Debt Collection ,
Debt Collectors ,
En Banc Review ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Personal Information ,
Standing ,
Statutory Violations ,
Third-Party Service Provider
I. Introduction -
On November 30, 2021, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection's ("CFPB") October and December 2020 Final Rules take effect. See 86 FR 48918-01. Among other things, the October and December 2020 Final...more
In Swann v. Dynamic Recovery Solutions, LLC, No. 4:18-CV-1000-VEH, 2018 WL 6198997 (N.D. Ala. Nov. 28, 2018), the Northern District of Alabama dismissed a putative class action case alleging a letter seeking to collect a...more
For many of the claims asserted under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692-1692p (the “FDCPA”), courts are required to apply the “least sophisticated consumer” standard in evaluating the claim, an...more
In a case of first impression, the Eleventh Circuit recently held that a voicemail constitutes a “communication” under the FDCPA, and can thus trigger the mini-Miranda requirement, but an individual collecting on behalf of a...more
9/27/2017
/ Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Debt Collection ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
FDCPA ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Miranda Warnings ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Required Communications ,
Third-Party Service Provider ,
Voicemail
On June 12, 2017, the Supreme Court in Henson v. Santander Consumer USA Inc. unanimously held that a debt buyer is not a “debt collector” as defined by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) if it is regularly...more
In Midland Funding, LLC v. Johnson, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a debt collector does not run afoul of the FDCPA by filing a proof of claim in bankruptcy on a stale debt. In its 5-3 decision, the Court sided with the...more
In the wake of Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S.Ct. 1540 (May 16, 2016), the Supreme Court decision that had the chance to be legendary, but instead settled for punting back to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, we are left...more
In Kuntz v. Rodenburg LLP, No. 15-2777, – F.3d –, 2016 WL 5219884 (8th Cir. Sept. 22, 2016), the Eighth Circuit held that a law firm hired to collect a debt did not violate § 1692b(3) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act...more
In Marquez v. Weinstein, Pinson & Riley, P.S., No. 15-3273, – F.3d –, 2016 WL 4651403 (7th Cir. Sept. 7, 2016), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that a validation notice in a complaint to collect a debt violated the...more
In Dubois v. Atlas Acquisitions LLC, Case No. 15-1945 (4th Cir. Aug. 25, 2016), the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held in a 2-1 decision that filing proofs of claim on time-barred debts does not violate the Fair Debt...more
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (U.S. May 16, 2016), continues to have a substantial impact on federal courts, especially with respect to alleged statutory violations of the Fair Debt...more