Any person who “causes” an employee to be paid” less than the minimum wage set by state or local law is liable for a civil penalty as is any person who “causes to be violated” laws governing overtime pay. The civil penalties can be serious: for first time intention violations: $50 or $100 per underpaid employee per pay period; for… Read More
The California Legislature enacted the Homeowner Bill of Rights (“HBOR”) in 2012 to provide protection for homeowners facing non-judicial foreclosure and to modify certain aspects of the foreclosure process. Many (but not all) HBOR statutes were scheduled to sunset on January 1, 2018. Of the statutes that were scheduled to sunset, many (but not all) were replaced by parallel statutes… Read More
On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court clarified the landscape for California employment law. The Court announced a new three-pronged “ABC” test which must be used to determine whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee. The impact of this new legal framework is immediately clear for the gig economy but its reverberations will be felt throughout… Read More
View the SW Summer 2018 Newsletter Since its founding over 70 years ago, Severson & Werson has gained a reputation for providing specialized advice, legal services, and expertise to financial institution clients. The services we provide run the gamut from litigation to regulatory matters to client counseling, legislative affairs, and formulating and implementing nationwide strategies for consumer class action defense.… Read More
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers may invoke the so-called de minimus rule to avoid paying employees for up to 10 minutes of “off the clock” work per day. Not so under California law, the California Supreme Court held in Troester v. Starbucks Corp., a decision issued on July 26, 2018. Troester holds that at least when an employer requires its… Read More
In Saunders v. Dyck O’Neal, Inc., No. 1:17-CV-335, 2018 WL 3453967 (W.D. Mich. July 16, 2018), defendant argued that its “direct drop” voicemails are not covered by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”). The court disagreed and denied Dyck O’Neal’s motion for summary judgment. Id. at *1. Continue Reading: Direct Drop Voicemails Covered by the TCPA Read More
While businesses have been largely focused on the European Union’s implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) of late, California took its own first steps into the new frontier of consumer privacy and data protection as Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 375, dubbed the “California Data Privacy Protection Act” on June 28, 2018.1 The Act is scheduled to… Read More
How should a worker’s “regular rate of pay” be computed when the worker receives a flat sum bonus in addition to an hourly wage? The answer is crucial since, under California law, an employer must pay a worker 1.5 times the worker’s “regular rate of pay” for “overtime”—that is, work in excess of 8 hours in a day, 40 hours… Read More
In 1963, Congress enacted the Equal Pay Act (29 U.S.C. § 206(d)(1)), requiring equal pay for equal work regardless of sex. Under the Act, an employer may justify paying male and female employees different wages for substantially equal work only by showing that the disparity in pay is explained by a seniority or merit system, a system basing earnings on… Read More
A copy of Erik Kemp's and Scott Hyman's article "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Regulates Pay-by-Phone “Convenience” Fees", CFSC Newsletter: ABA Business Law Section, (March 2018) can be found here: https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/business_law/newsletters/CL230000/full-issue-201803.authcheckdam.pdf Read More
Compliance has been a top concern for mortgage professionals for the past several years. From implementation and technological difficulties to being left in a state of uncertainty—how can the industry keep focus on the core mission of serving the housing market and making the American Dream more accessible? Continue Reading: A Balancing Act with Compliance Regulation Read More
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Regulates Pay-by-Phone “Convenience” Fees, CFSC Newsletter: ABA Business Law Section, (March 2018) Read More
View the SW Winter 2018 Newsletter Since its founding over 70 years ago, Severson & Werson has gained a reputation for providing specialized advice, legal services and expertise to financial institution clients. The services we provide run the gamut, from litigation to regulatory matters, legislative affairs and formulating and implementing national strategies for such things as defending consumer class action… Read More
The Ninth Circuit recently determined, in Pinnacle Rest. at Big Sky, LLC v. CH SP Acquisitions, LLC (In re Spanish Peaks Holdings II, LLC), 862 F.3d 1148 (9th Cir. 2017), that a sale of real property free and clear of liens and interests under Section 363(f) of the United States Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. § 363(f) (“Section 363(f)”), can terminate… Read More
In what should end a long-simmering legal brushfire, the Ninth Circuit held that the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (“FHFA”) so-called “Federal Foreclosure Bar” preempts Nevada’s homeowners' association lien super-priority statute, thereby protecting Fannie/Freddie mortgage liens from being extinguished through foreclosure of later-recorded homeowners association liens. Berezovsky v. Moniz, et al., 869 F.3d 923 (9th Cir. 2017). Berezovsky purchased a home… Read More
On July 5, 2017, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a blow to Provident Savings Bank, FSB (“Provident”) in a class action suit brought against Provident by mortgage underwriters who sued for overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. § 201, et seq. The Ninth Circuit agreed with plaintiffs that they had been misclassified by… Read More
With the recently alleged data breach of Equifax, the data security of financial institutions’ customer information is once again in the news. And once again, as with every data breach, a flurry of lawsuits has followed. The purpose of this article is to highlight one area of legal exposure with data breaches that applies only to financial institutions. Section 6285… Read More
“Resistance” is now the battle cry of the self-anointed defenders of consumer rights. But this is nothing new for the California Supreme Court, which for over 20 years has resisted the mandate in the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) to enforce arbitration agreements despite their collateral effect on class actions. Beginning with Southland Corp. v. Keating, 465 U.S. 1 (1984), and reaching… Read More
Automobile Finance Law in the Emerging Autonomous and Mobility Ecosystem, (S&W Financial Services Law White Paper) Read More
In this Article, Severson partners Rebecca Saelao and Scott Hyman discuss the effect of a class action plaintiff’s dismissal of claims or damages at the instruction of class counsel in order to conform their individual claim to the claims of the putative class and, purportedly, to better their chances for class certification. 2017 Claim Trimming Article Read More
