Since May 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued three decisions addressing or potentially impacting issues of bankruptcy law. These included rulings concerning the abrogation of sovereign immunity for Native American tribes...more
The courts have long been split on the question of whether Native American tribes are immune from legal attacks under federal bankruptcy law. Some courts have held that tribes and tribal-owned entities could not be sued for...more
On June 15, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, et al. v. Coughlin. The case involved a tribal entity, “Lendgreen,” that lent an individual, Brian Coughlin, “$1,100 in...more
On June 15, 2023, Justice Jackson led the majority in an 8-1 decision holding that the Bankruptcy Code abrogates federally recognized tribes’ sovereign immunity. The decision has significant implications for tribal creditors...more
In January, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin after the First Circuit barred the Lac du Flambeau Band from seeking to collect on a $1,600 debt obligation...more
On June 15, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians et al. v. Coughlin, No. 22-227, holding that the Bankruptcy Code unambiguously abrogates the sovereign immunity of all...more
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that because Indian tribes are indisputably governments, the Bankruptcy Code unmistakably abrogates their sovereign immunity to bankruptcy court proceedings....more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued 3 decisions today: Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin,No. 22-227: This statutory interpretation and federal Indian law case addressed the...more
On October 5, 2022, during the Tribal Consultation session in Washington, D.C., the Small Business Administration stated that it will not pursue its attempt to impose a Community Benefit Plan requirement on Alaska Native...more
Isabella Casillas Guzman of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced on December 15, 2021, that SBA’s Office of Native American Affairs awarded $1.1 million in grants and contracts to seven entities which will...more
This week, the Court revives an ERISA claim and compels arbitration of a dispute over tribal internet payday loans. WARMENHOVEN v. NETAPP, INC. The Court holds that PowerPoint presentations did not constitute plan...more
In late May, the Connecticut Supreme Court held that the tribal lending entity Great Plains Lending (Great Plains) is protected by tribal sovereign immunity as an “arm of the tribe,” adopting a test first established by the...more
In a recent decision by the Fourth Circuit, Big Picture Loans, LLC, an online lender owned and operated by the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, a federally recognized Indian tribe (“Tribe”), and...more
A coalition of 14 state Attorneys General and the D.C. Attorney General have filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Williams v. Big Picture Loans in which a tribal lender and its tribal...more
Where a Loan Agreement’s arbitration provision stated disputes “will be resolved by Arbitration, which shall be conducted by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Nation by an authorized representative in accordance with its...more
In a span of three days, the CFPB, under Acting Director Mulvaney, significantly retreated in the payday-lending space and suffered a court defeat in its request for monetary relief with respect to a CashCall installment...more
On December 1, 2018, three Democrat and three Republican members of the House of Representatives introduced a joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act (H.J. Res. 122) to override the CFPB’s final payday/auto...more
The CFPB announced yesterday that it intends to engage in a rulemaking process to reconsider, pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, its final rule on Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans (the...more
The CFPB has filed a brief opposing the petition for certiorari filed by two tribally-affiliated lenders seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of the Ninth Circuit’s decision in CFPB v. Great Plains Lending, LLC, et al. In that...more
The State of Oklahoma has filed an amicus brief in support of the motion to dismiss filed by four online tribal lenders sued by the CFPB for alleged Consumer Financial Protection Act and Truth in Lending Act violations. The...more
American Express Chair and CEO Kenneth Chenault announced that he’s stepping down next year after 16 years at the helm of AmEx. He’ll be succeeded by Vice Chair Stephen Squeri....more
Despite a stronger global economic outlook than we’ve seen in years, the world’s central bankers appear loath to let go of stimulus measures while lower-than-expected inflation bedevils them....more
Plaintiff electronically signed a contract which contained: (1) terms governing the loan; (2) an agreement to submit disputes to arbitration; and (3) a choice of law provision which required the application of Otoe-Missouria...more
In a new lawsuit filed in an Illinois federal district court, the CFPB alleges that four online tribal lenders engaged in unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act...more
The Ninth Circuit recently issued its opinion in CFPB v. Great Plains Lending, LLC, et al., in which three tribal-affiliated, for-profit lending companies (“Tribal Lenders”) challenged the authority of the CFPB to issue civil...more