On July 27, the CFPB issues an extensive FAQ or "Compliance Aid" on how to comply with the new FDCPA regulations. A Compliance Aid is This designation will provide the public with greater clarity regarding the legal status and role of these materials, as discussed below. The Bureau does not intend to use Compliance Aids to make decisions that bind… Read More
In Gallo v. Wood Ranch United States, No. B311067, 2022 Cal. App. LEXIS 652, at *3-6 (Ct. App. July 25, 2022), the Court of Appeal addressed the effect of late payment of arbitration fees under the penalties provided for by Civil Procedure Code sections 1281.97 and 1281.99, which obligate a company or business who drafts an arbitration agreement to pay… Read More
In Wynne v. Audi of Am., No. 21-cv-08518-DMR, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 131625, at *2-4 (N.D. Cal. July 25, 2022), Judge Ryu found that the CCPA, by itself, does not confer Article III standing under the SCOTUS' TransUnion decision. The facts of the data breach were as follows: Wynne makes the following allegations in the amended complaint: Defendant Audi is a… Read More
In Richmond v. Medicredit, Inc., No. 5:21-CV-00068-KDB-DSC, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130092, at *8 (W.D.N.C. July 22, 2022), Judge Bell denied an FDCPA defendant's summary judgment motion. The Court finds that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Medicredit reported Richmond's debts as disputed to the credit reporting agencies ("CRAs"). The FDCPA protects consumers from certain… Read More
In Costa v. Dvinci Energy, Inc., Civil Action No. 21-11501-NMG, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130208, at *4-6 (D. Mass. July 22, 2022), Judge Gorton declined to strike a TCPA class action at the pleadings stage despite complaints that it is a "fail-safe" class. Dvinci contends that the proposed class is fail-safe—and thus must be struck—because it defines its membership in… Read More
In Tukin v. Halsted Financial Services, LLC, Judge Wood found no Article III standing for a Hunstein claim (of sharing a consumer's data with a vendor) where the sharing was done by way of encrypted data transfer. First, of note, Judge Wood found no "glassine window" violation for use of an "Intelligent Mail Code" on the dunning letter's envelope. Count III alleges that… Read More
In El v. Ally Bank, No. 2:22-cv-00874-APG-DJA, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130239, at *1-5 (D. Nev. July 22, 2022), Magistrate Albregts dismissed a claim that the Court described as being based on sovereign citizen theories against a Bank. Not only do El's motions fail to state the grounds for the relief she seeks or even what relief she seeks, El's motions… Read More
In Riser v. Cent. Portfolio Control, Inc., 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109545, Case No. 3:21-cv-05238-LK (W.D. Wash. June 21, 2022), Judge King dismissed an FCRA claim against a consumer reporting agency over the propriety of reporting a medical debt which the Plaintiff claimed that she did not owe because she was covered by Washington's Medicaid plan. Relying on the Ninth… Read More
In Soliman v. Subway Franchisee Advert. Fund Tr., Ltd., No. 3:19-cv-592 (JAM), 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126468, at *6-8 (D. Conn. July 18, 2022), Judge Meyer disposed of the argument that Subway's text message software was an ATDS. And under Soliman's reading, the Act would probably cover much more than mass dialing. As she admits, sequential number generation is "an… Read More
On July 15, the DFPI issued proposed regulations on the scope of debt collection licensure required by the DCLA. The text of the proposed regulations can be found here: PRO-05-21-Text-DCLA-Invitation-for-Comments.-7.14.22 There are a number of significant proposed regulations for licensees, applications, or potential licensees. First, the DFPI's proposed regulations would confirm that W-2 or true employees are not required to… Read More
In Ramirez v. Volkswagen Grp. of Am., Inc., No. CV 22-00734 MWF (MRWx), 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121034 (C.D. Cal. July 8, 2022), Judge Fitzgerald remanded a lemon law case after reducing the Plaintiff’s claimed damages by unrecoverable negative equity. At the hearing, Plaintiff raised the issue of negative equity, which Defendant also addressed in the briefing, arguing that any… Read More
In Fernandez v. Progressive Mgmt. Sys., No. 3:21-cv-00841-BEN-WVG, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120329 (S.D. Cal. July 7, 2022), Judge Benitez allowed a UCL claim to proceed predicated on a Rosenthal Act violation where the customer did not allege to have paid money to the defendant. Defendant, however, is incorrect that Plaintiff must have paid EACMC monies to establish UCL standing.… Read More
In George v. Summit Credit Union, No. 21-CV-259-JPS, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112739, at *14-21 (E.D. Wis. June 27, 2022), Judge Stadtmueller granted partial summary judgment to an FCRA Plaintiff against a furnisher, leaving for further litigation only the issue of recoverable damages. The FCRA provides that a furnisher (such as Summit) can be held liable to a consumer for… Read More
We previously reported on this case here: https://www.severson.com/consumer-finance/district-court-cal-finds-no-fdcpa-claim-based-on-reporting-account-as-disputed-when-debtor-did-not-dispute-the-debt/ Now, again, in Samano v. LVNV Funding, LLC, No. 1:21-cv-01692-SKO, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114028, at *4-8 (E.D. Cal. June 27, 2022), Magistrate Oberta again granted a Motion to Dismiss, but again gave leave to amend, on whether credit reporting constituted debt collection activity. The purposes of the FDCPA are "to eliminate… Read More
On June 29, 2022, the CFPB issued an Advisory Opinion on collection of "convenience fees". https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-moves-to-reduce-junk-fees-charged-by-debt-collectors/ A copy of the Advisory Opinion can be found here. Severson has been following the CFPB's evolving position(s) and regulation of "convenience fees". CFPB-2017-S&WConvenience-Fees-Bulletin; 2018-AmericanBarAssociation-Article-on-Convnience-Fees Referring to its 2017 Compliance Bulletin, the CFPB stated: For example, in 2017, the CFPB issued a compliance bulletin… Read More
In Snyder v. Finley & Co., L.P.A., No. 21-3997, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 16512, at *1 (6th Cir. June 15, 2022), the Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit explained how, and when, a debt collector can be found liable when losing litigation on the debt itself; i.e. does the debt collector ipso facto violate the FDCPA when it loses… Read More
In Gilbert v. TrueAccord, Case No. 21-cv-485, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111328 (N.D. Ill. June 23, 2022), Judge Alonso granted partial summary judgment to a debt collector on the consumer's claim that the debt collector violated her lawyers C&D demand by e-mailing on a debt after the lawyer had advised of the lawyer's representation in connection with another debt. Furthermore, the… Read More
In Patterson v. Med. Review Inst. of Am., LLC, No. 22-cv-00413-MMC, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111617, at *5-8 (N.D. Cal. June 23, 2022), Judge Chesney surveyed California law on the subject and dismissed a data breach case on Art. III standing grounds. First, with respect to an increased risk of fraud and identity theft, although Patterson alleges the hackers "accessed… Read More
On June 24, the FTC announced that purportedly is designed to fight deceptive advertising, crack down on bait-and-switch marketing, and put a stop to hidden add-on charges when consumers go vehicle shopping. According to the Notice posted in the Federal Register, FTC 6.23.22 Auto Rule NPRM, the NPR purports to The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”) seeks comment on… Read More
In Palacio v. Med. Fin. Sols., No. 21 CV 1288, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105459, at *11-15 (N.D. Ill. June 14, 2022), Judge Shah dismissed an FDCPA claim because the debt was not in default at the time of the assignment. An entity can act as both a creditor and a debt collector, but for the purposes of a particular… Read More
