Consumer Finance

In FTC v. Am. Future Sys., No. 20-2266, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83401, at *3-4 (E.D. Pa. Apr. 30, 2021), Judge Slomsky allowed the FTC to proceed on unfair debt collection claims against a debt collection agency collecting on business related education and publication debts. On May 13, 2020, the FTC initiated this action against American Future Systems, Inc. ("AFS"),… Read More

In Campbell v. Douglas Knights & Assocs., No. 21-cv-01667-JCS, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84499, at *14-16 (N.D. Cal. May 3, 2021), Judge Spero dismissed and FDCPA because it did not arise from a "debt". Here, the letters attached to the Complaint indicates that Douglas, Knight & Associates is an insurance subrogation agent seeking to collect on behalf of an insurance… Read More

In Warren v. Credit Pros Int'l Corp., No. 3:20-cv-763-TJC-MCR, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79150, at *20-28 (M.D. Fla. Apr. 26, 2021), Judge Richardson ordered a TCPA defendant to produce sweeping discovery in a TCPA class action. Now, as to the first category of documents, the Court finds that Plaintiff is entitled to receive information regarding the hardware, software, and capabilities of… Read More

In Mey v. Medguard Alert, No. 5:19-CV-315, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80083, at *13-14 (N.D.W. Va. Apr. 27, 2021), Judge Tates found that the SCOTUS' holding in Barr didn't render the TCPA unconstitutional for non-government backed debts. Those courts which have found the TCPA to be valid with regard to non-Government debt calls, even in light of Barr,include McCurley, supra; Less v. Quest… Read More

In Carrasco v. M & T Bank, No. SAG-21-0532, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80487, at *8 (D. Md. Apr. 27, 2021), Judge Gallagher allowed an FCRA claim past the pleadings stage where the Plaintiff argued that the creditor had not reported the Account as disputed. Count One of Plaintiff's Complaint fairly alleges that M&T violated the FCRA by failing to inform the… Read More

In McMorris v. Carlos Lopez & Assocs., LLC, No. 19-4310, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 12328, at *2-7 (2d Cir. Apr. 26, 2021), the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit approved of the District Court's dismissal on Art. III grounds of an ID Theft class action that the parties had settled and were seeking court approval of.  The underlying proceedings were… Read More

California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation has filed a notice of proposed rulemaking on April 23, 2021 for the Debt Collection Licensing Act (DCLA). The proposed regulations are to be added in Title 10, California Code of Regulations, Subchapter 11.3 “Debt Collection Licensing Act.” A copy of the proposed rulemaking text is here. The proposed regulations cover: requirements to… Read More

In Amg Capital Mgmt. v. FTC, No. 19-508, 2021 U.S. LEXIS 2108, at *1-4 (Apr. 22, 2021), the Supreme Court held that the FTC Act does not authorize the FTC to seek monetary restitution in a suit that the FTC brings in the first instance (i.e., without a prior administrative proceeding) in federal court under section 13(b) of the FTC… Read More

In Hunstein v. Prefeerred Collection and Management Services, Inc., the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit addressed the question whether a debt collector's use of a mail-service to send its dunning letters, and sharing the debtor's information required to do so, violates the FDCPA. The short story: A debt collector electronically transmitted data concerning a consumer’s debt—including his name,… Read More

In Blackmon v. Ad Astra Recovery Servs., Case No.: 20-CV-800-CAB-JLB, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75878 (S.D. Cal. April 20, 2021), Judge Bencivengo granted summary judgment to a debt collector who was alleged to have committed errors in connection with handling a purported claim of identity theft.   After the debtor failed to submit an affidavit of theft or police report but then… Read More

The CFPB issued an interim final rule that is effective May 3, 2021 to address certain debt collector conduct associated with an eviction moratorium issued by the CDC. The rule provides that debt collectors, as defined in the FDCPA, are required to provide written notice to certain consumers of their protections under the CDC Order’s eviction moratorium. Also, debt collectors… Read More

In Franklin v. Navient, Inc., No. 1:17-cv-1640-SB, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 74265, at *1-2 (D. Del. Apr. 19, 2021), Judge Bibas allowed a TCPA claim to proceed. "[J]udicial decisionmaking" after the fact "necessarily involves some peril to individual expectations." Rivers v. Roadway Express, Inc., 511 U.S. 298, 312 (1994). Na-vient may have to learn that the hard way. It robocalled Ricky… Read More

In Mesa Labs. v. Fed. Ins. Co., No. 20-1983, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 11365, at *1 (7th Cir. Apr. 20, 2021), the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit found no insurance coverage for TCPA blast-fax claims.  The Court of Appeals framed the question as follows: The question in this case is straightforward: When an insurance policy provides that the… Read More

In Brogan v. Fred Beans Chevrolet, No. 20-1944, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 11183, at *1-2 (3d Cir. Apr. 19, 2021), the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit found no TILA or FCRA violation by a car dealer in attempting to get a customer's car financed.  The facts were as follows: In 2017, Brogan bought a used Subaru from Fred… Read More

In In re Brinker Data Incident Litig., No. 3:18-cv-686-TJC-MCR, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71965, at *3-5 (M.D. Fla. Apr. 14, 2021), Judge Corrigan certified a class in a data breach class action.  The facts were as follows: The Court has detailed the facts of this case in prior orders (Docs. 65, 92, 122), but several new facts have come to… Read More

Although on April 7, 2021, the CFPB proposed to delay the October 2020 and December 2020 Debt Collection Rules by 60 days, on April 16, 2021, the CFPB moved forward with its earlier stated plan to update the small entity compliance guide to include the December 2020 Debt Collection Rule. The update guide is available here. As discussed earlier with… Read More

In Smith v. Stewart, Zlimen & Jungers, Ltd. (8th Cir. 2021) 990 F.3d 640, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of consolidation actions under the FDCPA against the same debt collection law firm and declined to hold that a FDCPA claim is stated ipso facto because the debt collector lost the underlying collection action. In underlying collections actions… Read More

The FTC today issued a press release on whether the FTC Holder Rule applies to large transactions. The staff of the Federal Trade Commission has issued a note correcting previous staff guidelines on the FTC’s Trade Regulation Rule Concerning Preservation of Consumers’ Claims and Defenses—commonly known as the Holder Rule. The Holder Rule protects consumers who enter into credit contracts… Read More

In Auto. Fin. Corp. v. DZ Motors, LLC, Civil Action No. 16-7955 (MAS) (DEA), 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69915 (D.N.J. Apr. 9, 2021), Judge Shipp reached different conclusions on a lien priority dispute between a Floorplan lender and credit union with respect to 2 luxury vehicles “purchased” by an SoT dealer’s manager. With respect to the Bentley, the Court found… Read More

In Henson v. Nationwide Credit, No. CV 20-11402 PA (MRWx), 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68689 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 7, 2021), Judge Anderson dismissed an FDCPA case challenging a debt collector’s disclosures in its validation letter. In determining whether conduct violates [the FDCPA, courts within the Ninth Circuit] undertake objective analysis of the question whether the 'least sophisticated debtor would likely… Read More