Consumer Finance

In Moura v. Cannon, No. 4:17-40166-TSH, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 184736, at *1-3 (D. Mass. Sep. 27, 2021), Judge Hillman dismissed a personal injury claim against a lessor based on Graves Amendment pre-emption. The following facts are undisputed unless otherwise stated. On December 14, 2016, John Cannon ("Cannon") was driving a tractor-trailer on Interstate 35 in Oklahoma when he crashed… Read More

In Lynch v. Aml Network, No. CV 21-3574-GW-RAOx, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187234, at *11-14 (C.D. Cal. Sep. 27, 2021), Judge Wu kept jurisdiction over a state-law anti-spam case, disagreeing with the Plaintiff that he did not have Article III standing. Findings (e) and (h) explicitly compare the harms caused by spam emails to injuries caused by junk faxes and… Read More

In Brickman v. Facebook, Inc., No. 16-cv-00751-WHO, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175700, at *10-12 (N.D. Cal. Sep. 15, 2021), Judge Orrick dismissed a TCPA case at the pleadings stage. I recognize that some courts have considered the determination of whether a plaintiff has plausibly shown the use of an ATDS covered by Duguid to be more appropriately resolved on summary… Read More

In Hamilton v. Brewster, No. 2:20-CV-02054, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175964, at *5-6 (W.D. Ark. Sep. 16, 2021), Judge Holmes granted summary judgment to a lessor who proved that the driver was not the lessor's employee under the Graves Amendment savings clause, having been faced with pleadings alleging that the driver of the vehicle was the lessor's employee. "Although the… Read More

In Shafer v. Moore Law Grp., No. 3:20-cv-00525-MMD-CLB, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174185, at *8 (D. Nev. Sep. 14, 2021), Judge Du allowed an FDCPA case to press forward against a debt collector who served a pleading directly on a represented party in an existing lawsuit because the party's lawyer had not formally entered an appearance. Plaintiff alleges that, despite… Read More

In Weiser v. Castille, No. 20-2043, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 173993, at *13-14 (E.D. La. Sep. 14, 2021), Judge Lemmon dismissed FDCPA and FCRA claims arising out of a Plaintiff's investment mobile home properties.   Additionally, an obligation arising from a commercial transaction, as opposed to a transaction "primarily for personal, family, or household purposes" is not a "debt" as defined… Read More

In Webb v. Midland Credit Mgmt., No. 20cv2211-MMA-WVG, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 173479, at *11-12 (S.D. Cal. Sep. 13, 2021), Judge Anello dismissed an FDCPA claim challenging the propriety upon which a state court debt judgment was obtained.  The facts were as follows: On December 11, 2018, Midland filed a state court complaint against Plaintiff "for the principal amount of… Read More

In Ftc v. Credit Bureau Ctr., No. 17 C 194, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 173180, at *3-7 (N.D. Ill. Sep. 13, 2021), Judge Kennelly allowed the FTC to amend its judgment to preserve a restitution award on an alternative legal theory after SCOTUS held in AMG Cap. Mgmt. that section 13(b) of the FTC Act did not afford a right… Read More

In Lindenbaum v. Realgy, Ltd. Liab. Co., No. 20-4252, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 27159, at *2-4 (6th Cir. Sep. 9, 2021), the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit found that the District Court erred in dismissing a TCPA claim based on the period of unconstitutionality found in Barr. In 1991, Congress prohibited almost all robocalls to cell phones and landlines.… Read More

In In re Sonic Corp. Customer Data Sec. Breach Litig., No. 1:17-md-2807, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168504, at *13-16 (N.D. Ohio Sep. 7, 2021), Judge Gwin denied summary judgment to the defendants, who argued that the criminal hacking constituted a supervening cause. Here, Sonic can only prevail by showing that the hackers' criminal acts were independent of Sonic's negligent security… Read More

In Mariscal v. Flagstar Bank, FSB, No. ED CV 19-2023-DMG (SHKx), 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171374, at *4-8 (C.D. Cal. Sep. 9, 2021), Judge Gee dismissed, a second time, the Plaintiff's Rosenthal Act Class Action challenging a mortgage company's "pay-to-pay" fees. The fee itself need not be a debt, as long as it is connected to the collection of a… Read More

In Hodges v. Comcast Cable Communications, LLC.,  the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held that the district court erred in denying Comcast's motion to compel arbitration even though its arbitration clause precluded customers from litigating public injunction claims in any forum.  First, the Court of Appeals held that the mere presence of the clause in the arbitration agreement… Read More

The California Office of the Attorney General (OAG) is responsible for enforcing the CCPA. The OAG began sending notices of alleged noncompliance to companies on July 1, 2020, the first day CCPA enforcement began. Once a company is notified of alleged noncompliance, it has 30 days to cure that noncompliance.  The OAG identified 27 case examples summarizing the alleged violations… Read More

In Judge Autrey dismissed an FDCPA claim filed by a consumer's lawyer who received a 'dunning' letter from a debt collector attempting to ascertain his possible representation of a consumer. On July 27, 2020, Defendant attempted to collect the alleged consumer debt from the Consumer via mail by sending its initial collection letter to Plaintiff. Plaintiff received this initial collection letter… Read More

In Rodenburg LLP v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's of London, No. 20-2521, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 25516, at *2-4 (8th Cir. Aug. 25, 2021), the Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit found no coverage for FDCPA claims under an attorneys' insurance policy.  The facts were as follows: Rodenburg, whose primary business is debt collection, obtained a default judgment on… Read More

In Keller v. Northstar Location Servs., No. 21-cv-3389, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157820, at *4-6 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 20, 2021), Judge Johnson-Coleman kept jurisdiction over an FDCPA-Hunstein case despite the consumer's objection that the SCOTUS' decision in Ramirez deprived her of Article III standing. With this standard in mind, the Court turns to an Eleventh Circuit opinion where that court concluded… Read More

In Mount v. Peruzzi of Langhorne LLC, No. 21-2166, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157579, at *13-17 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 20, 2021), Judge Beetlestone allowed an ECOA claim to proceed, but not a TILA claim, for an automobile purchase spot-delivery situation gone wrong.  The facts were as follows: Plaintiff Michelle Mount, a dental assistant in Philadelphia, wanted to buy a new… Read More

In Safe Credit Union v. Diaz, No. C092158, 2021 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 5435, at *7 (Aug. 23, 2021), the Court of Appeal held in an unpublished decision that an anti-SLAPP motion by a credit union was not proper to challenge an NOI class action filed in response to a debt collection action. For complaints and cross-complaints alleging mixed causes… Read More

On August 19, 2021, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation issued a request for comments as it considers a second rulemaking related to the Debt Collection Licensing Act. The first rulemaking, issued earlier this year relates to the license application process and requirements for debt collectors who may begin to apply for a debt collection license starting in… Read More

In Smith v. Leif Johnson Ford, No. ED109494, 2021 Mo. App. LEXIS 780, at *2-5 (Ct. App. Aug. 17, 2021), the Court of Appeals affirmed certification of a "ringless voicemail" class. Smith, a Missouri resident, filed a putative class action against Ford, a Texas car dealership doing business nationwide and in Missouri. Smith alleged Ford violated the TCPA by sending… Read More