The fireworks have started early this year. On May 2, a federal court in New York rejected the OCC’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the NY DFS challenging the OCC’s fintech charter. The decision has something for everyone — ripeness, standing, state sovereign authority, dictionary definitions, and some Chevron deference (or lack thereof) for good measure. Exciting reading! And after fighting about everything else, it looks as though the OCC and the NY DFS have agreed that the next stop should be the Second Circuit. So we can all look forward to Round 2.

Speaking of Round 2, a federal judge in Texas continued the stay of the compliance dates for both the payments and ability-to-repay provisions of the CFPB’s payday lending rule, as well as the stay of the litigation brought by trade groups challenging the rule. The CFPB issued a final rule to delay the implementation date for the ability-to-repay portion of the rule, which is the subject of rulemaking to rescind these requirements. The federal judge stayed the compliance date for both these ability-to-repay provisions and the payments provisions of the rule over the CFPB’s objection.