Amidst the many weighty matters discussed and debated at the recent COP26 climate conference, a major announcement with momentous potential effects on businesses may have gone unnoticed. The IFRS Foundation said at the...more
Millions of homeowners have signed up for a forbearance under the CARES Act, which gives homeowners with a federally-backed mortgage loan the right to obtain a temporary reduction or suspension of mortgage payments by way of...more
10/12/2021
/ CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Fair Lending ,
Fannie Mae ,
Forbearance Agreements ,
Foreclosure ,
Homeowners ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Mortgages ,
PNC ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Relief Measures ,
RESPA ,
Statutory Violations ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA) ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
A Florida federal court recently dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought against social media giant Twitter in a case related to documents allegedly obtained from President Biden’s son Hunter’s laptop.1 The plaintiff, John...more
At the beginning of his term, President Biden declared that his administration would make it a policy to eliminate “racial bias and other forms of discrimination in all states of home-buying and renting.”...more
10/5/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Community Reinvestment Act ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disparate Impact ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fair Lending ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
First-Lien ,
Housing Market ,
Mortgages ,
OCC ,
Racial Bias ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Redlining ,
Section 1071 ,
Settlement Agreements
Insurers that offer coverage for cyberattacks find themselves playing both offense and defense lately. As they await possible action by Congress to enact federal cybersecurity legislation, the insurance industry has gone on...more
9/13/2021
/ Commercial Insurance Policies ,
Consumer Insurance Products ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cyber Insurance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Hackers ,
Policy Terms
A federal judge recently blocked a Florida law that would have penalized social media companies for removing, or refusing to publish, posts by politicians. Florida legislators approved the legislation after Facebook, Twitter...more
7/20/2021
/ Big Tech ,
Civil Liability ,
Facebook ,
First Amendment ,
Florida ,
Free Speech ,
New Legislation ,
Online Platforms ,
Political Campaigns ,
Political Candidates ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Social Media ,
Strict Scrutiny Standard ,
Twitter ,
YouTube
In a previous article, we noted the increasing pressure on companies to bolster their proactive efforts on and disclosures relating to, Environmental, Social, & Governance (“ESG”) issues....more
6/9/2021
/ Business Plans ,
Business Strategies ,
Capital Investments ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sustainability
On May 24, 2021, Florida’s governor signed into law legislation prohibiting social media companies from blocking political candidates seeking to use those companies’ websites to communicate with the sites’ users. Almost...more
6/8/2021
/ Big Tech ,
Commerce Clause ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Due Process ,
Equal Protection ,
Facebook ,
First Amendment ,
Florida ,
Free Speech ,
New Legislation ,
Online Platforms ,
Political Campaigns ,
Political Candidates ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Social Media ,
Twitter
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), the nation’s largest wholesale mortgage lender, announced on March 4, 2021, that it would no longer do business with mortgage brokers who also worked with Rocket Mortgage (the online loan...more
5/6/2021
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Anti-Steering Rules ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Class Action ,
Competition ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Monopolization ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Quicken Loans ,
Restraint of Trade ,
Sherman Act ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Wholesale
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have gotten a lot of media attention of late, with breathless reports of multi-million dollar purchases of items one might never have expected to command such staggering sums. The objects sold have...more
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) have been in such widespread use over the last year or two that an uptick in SPAC-related litigation appears inevitable....more
On February 27, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the “CDC”), the United States Department of Health and Human Services (the “HHS”), and the United States of America (collectively the “Government”)...more
3/17/2021
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Commerce Clause ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Eviction ,
Financial Distress ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Landlords ,
Moratorium ,
Police Power ,
Relief Measures ,
Rent ,
Rental Property ,
Tenants
If you thought Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (“LBHI”) was done suing lenders as a result of its settlements with RMBS trustees years ago, think again. ...more
Two more university tuition refund cases were recently decided at the pleadings stage, with mixed results for the university defendants. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in the matter of...more
In one of the largest data privacy settlements ever, a California federal district court judge last week approved a $650 million settlement to be paid by Facebook to nearly 1.6 million Facebook users in Illinois. The...more
On March 30, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral arguments in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez. This case marks the first time the Court will address the residual question in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins — what about...more
3/3/2021
/ Article III ,
Class Action ,
Class Members ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Standing ,
TransUnion ,
TransUnion LLC v Ramirez
We have previously written about the possible economic and litigation implications of mushrooming corporate debt. Now, the Federal Reserve has flagged some of those same concerns....more
Business interruption insurance claims keep coming, cutting across a broad array of industries. The entertainment and media sectors are certainly not immune from pandemic-related losses. Last month, ViacomCBS became the...more
2/24/2021
/ Breach of Contract ,
Business Interruption ,
Business Losses ,
CBS ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Insurance Claims ,
Policy Exclusions ,
Policy Terms ,
Viacom
On February 15, 2021, Florida introduced House Bill 969, aimed at consumer privacy protection. A prior attempt last year by the Florida legislature to pass similar legislation failed to become law....more
2/23/2021
/ Cybersecurity ,
Data Management ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data-Sharing ,
Florida ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
State and Local Government
As the real-life consequences of climate change accelerate and become more pronounced, so does the need for businesses and government entities to consider various practical effects. Corporations are facing significant...more
2/12/2021
/ Article III ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Due Process ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Loss of Liberty ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Standing ,
Sustainability
COVID-19 class actions continue to increase and are expected to spread to additional areas of law. Higher education has been one of the prime subjects of class actions thus far. To date, over 250 class action lawsuits have...more
2/10/2021
/ Article III ,
Breach of Contract ,
Class Action ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Educational Institutions ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Refunds ,
Standing ,
Tuition ,
Universities ,
Unjust Enrichment
More than 40 U.S. business groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers, National Restaurant Association, American Hotel and Lodging Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, requested on February 1 that...more
2/3/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Incentive Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
A vexing question for many businesses is whether to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for employees once those vaccinations become more widely available. Though the health and safety benefits of such a policy may seem...more
U.S. student loan borrowers owe approximately $1.7 trillion on their student loans. About 92% of that amount consists of federal student loans (debt owed to the U.S. government), with the remainder owed to a growing market of...more
One would think that, as we approach 2021, litigation related to residential mortgage loans originated and sold well over a decade ago would be ancient history. Nevertheless, some suits filed years ago remain active, and,...more