In Lafferty v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 2018 WL 3470748, at *2 (Cal.App. 3 Dist., 2018), the Court of Appeal held:
We conclude the Laffertys are limited under the plain meaning of the Holder Rule to recovering no more than the $68,000 they paid under terms of the loan with Wells Fargo. Consistent with Lafferty I, we continue to “hold—to the extent the Laffertys have causes of action against Geweke that are also valid against Wells Fargo by operation of the Holder Rule—their recovery is limited to the amount they have paid under the installment contract.” (213 Cal.App.4th at p. 563.) Consequently, the trial court properly denied the Laffertys’ request for attorney fees and nonstatutory costs in excess of their recovery of the amount they actually paid under the loan to Wells Fargo. In holding the Laffertys are limited in their recovery against Wells Fargo, we reject the Laffertys’ claims the Holder Rule violates the First Amendment, due process, or equal protection guarantees of the federal Constitution. However, we conclude the trial court did not err in awarding costs of suit and prejudgment interest to the Laffertys. The California statutes providing for costs and prejudgment interest apply to actions as a whole rather than to individual causes of action such as that provided by the Holder Rule.
Today, the California Supreme Court rejected the Consumer’s and multiple Consumers’ attorneys’ request for review and/or depublication. A copy of the Supreme Court’s docket can be found here:
For questions about Lafferty or the FTC Holder Rule generally, please contact Jan Chilton at jtc@severson.com or Scott Hyman at sjh@severson.com.