In a recent unpublished memorandum opinion in a putative class action, Carpenter et al. v. Opportunity Financial, LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld an arbitration clause in an agreement governing...more
Our special guest is Andrea Boyack, Professor, University of Missouri School of Law. We first discuss the principles that underlie our current system of consumer contracts and the system’s role in promoting transactional...more
We previously reported and released a podcast episode on comments that we and Professor David Sherwyn of Cornell University submitted in opposition to the Petition for Rulemaking filed by a number of consumer advocacy groups...more
12/7/2023
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Contract Disputes ,
CRA ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Contracts ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Proposed Rules ,
Rulemaking Process
Our special guest is David Sherwyn, Professor of Law at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. In Sept. 2023, a group of consumer advocate organizations filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the CFPB that would...more
Earlier last week, a group of consumer advocate organizations filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the CFPB that would prohibit the use of pre-dispute arbitration clauses in consumer contracts in favor of arbitration clauses...more
9/18/2023
/ Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Pre-Dispute Arbitration ,
Statutory Authority
On September 13, 2022, Public Justice and other consumer advocacy groups sent a letter to CFPB Director Chopra urging the CFPB to limit the use of “forced” arbitration provisions by banks and other consumer finance companies....more
On September 13, 2022, Public Justice and other consumer advocacy groups sent a letter to CFPB Director Rohit Chopra urging the CFPB to limit the use of “forced” arbitration provisions by banks and other consumer finance...more
This past Friday, by a vote of 225-186, the House passed H.R. 1423, the “Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act.” A Senate companion bill (S. 610) was introduced in February 2019 and referred to the Senate Judiciary...more
9/23/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Fair Access to Investment Research Act of 2017 (FAIR Act) ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FRCP 23 ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Pending Legislation ,
Pre-Dispute Arbitration ,
Presidential Veto ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Service Contracts
This alert follows on our previous report about the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Blair v. Rent-A-Center, Inc. and two companion cases holding that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not preempt the California Supreme...more
Two bills relevant to consumer finance have been passed by the New York Assembly and Senate and are awaiting Governor Cuomo’s signature.
The first bill, S3704, would amend New York’s plain language requirement to extend...more
I am pleased to report that as a result of the efforts of its business and consumer critics (among whom I include myself), the Tentative Draft of the Restatement of the Law, Consumer Contracts was put “on hold” yesterday at...more
Earlier yesterday, I published a blog post explaining why I believe the American Law Institute’s members should not approve the Tentative Draft of the Restatement of the Law, Consumer Contracts (the “Restatement”) on which...more
At the American Law Institute’s annual meeting next Tuesday in Washington, D.C., members will be voting on whether to approve a Tentative Draft of the Restatement of the Law, Consumer Contracts (the “Restatement”). ...more
Last Tuesday, I had the great privilege of testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee at its “Arbitration in America” hearing. ...more
Consistent with the weight of authority, the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that certain litigation financing agreements structured as asset sales were not disguised "loans," and therefore not subject to the state's...more
In August 2018, we reported about significant changes to Connecticut’s licensing laws for consumer financial services providers that were to take effect on October 1, 2018. ...more
Ruling in a class action brought against Uber Technologies, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently held that the company's arbitration clause could not be enforced because it was not "reasonably...more
7/3/2018
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Click-Through Nexus ,
Conspicuous Publication Rule ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Dismissals ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Motion to Compel ,
Online Contracts ,
Terms of Service ,
Uber
A consumer's alleged oral revocation of consent to receive autodialed or prerecorded calls to his cell phone was ineffective under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) when his credit card agreement provided that...more
In A.D. vs. Credit One Bank, N.A., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed a district court order compelling individual arbitration of a putative class action for Credit One's alleged violations of the...more
3/28/2018
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Banking Sector ,
Class Certification ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Contract Terms ,
Debit and Credit Card Transactions ,
Motion to Compel ,
Non-Signatories ,
Putative Class Actions ,
TCPA
In a recent decision pitting the Bankruptcy Code against the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that a creditor could not compel arbitration of a debtor's class action claims...more
3/27/2018
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Banking Sector ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Chapter 7 ,
Charge-Off ,
Consumer Bankruptcy ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Credit Cards ,
Credit Reports ,
Creditors ,
Debt Buyers ,
Dischargeable Debts ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Motion to Compel ,
Putative Class Actions
The CFPB is scheduled to publish a notice in tomorrow’s Federal Register removing the agency’s final arbitration rule from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). ...more
11/22/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Banking Sector ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Federal Register ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Trump Administration
Two weeks after President Trump signed H.J. Res. 111, the joint resolution passed by the House and Senate disapproving the CFPB arbitration rule, the CFPB has formally acknowledged Congress’ override of the rule under the...more
11/15/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Banking Sector ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Trump Administration
In a blog post last week, we noted that there had been no official statement from the CFPB about Congress’ override of the CFPB’s arbitration rule, which President Trump signed on November 1....more
11/13/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Banking Sector ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Richard Cordray
Yesterday marks one week since President Trump signed H.J. Res. 111, the joint resolution passed by the House and Senate disapproving the CFPB arbitration rule....more
11/9/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Banking Sector ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Trump Administration
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed by industry groups in a Texas federal district court against the CFPB to overturn the final arbitration rule have filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal....more
11/3/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Banking Sector ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Trump Administration