Consumer Finance

In Fitzhenry v. Safe Sts. United States Llc, No. 5:19-CV-394-BO, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105364 (E.D.N.C. June 16, 2020), the District Court permitted “other complaints” discovery in a TCPA action. Finally, Safe Streets objects to producing lists of past TCPA litigation or complaints, but such information is plainly related to willfulness and the issue of damages and is thus discoverable.… Read More

In Panzarella v. Solutions, No. 18-3735, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104746 (E.D. Pa. June 15, 2020), Judge Tucker granted summary judgment to a TCPA defendant on the basis that no ATDS was used under the TCPA. Plaintiffs, in arguing that the ININ system is an ATDS, point to the ININ user manual and a declaration from an expert, Randall Snyder.… Read More

In Heinz v. Driven Auto Sales, No. ED107617, 2020 Mo. App. LEXIS 782 (Ct. App. June 16, 2020), the Missouri Court of Appeals found that a credit union was responsible for the dealer’s conduct under the FTC Holder Rule, despite an argument that the credit union could not be directly liable under the Missouri statute sued upon. In many respects,… Read More

The California Legislature passed a budget by its annual deadline to do so--June 15, 2020—but the budget did not include Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed mini-CFPB. Earlier, Governor Newsom’s January 2020 proposed budget included the California Consumer Financial Protection Law, which sought to overhaul the California Department of Business Oversight (“DBO”) and remake it into a more powerful Department of Financial… Read More

In Russell v. Santander Consumer United States, No. 19-CV-119, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101404 (E.D. Wis. June 9, 2020), the District Court held an automobile finance company responsible for the repossession company’s breach of the peace. The Russells also sue their creditor, Santander, under Wis. Stat. § 425.206(2)(a) and Wis. Stat. §§ 427.104(1)(h) and (1)(j) for the illegal repossession. The… Read More

In Frank v. Autovest, No. 19-7119, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 18082, at *6 (D.C. Cir. June 9, 2020), the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed for lack of Art. III standing an FDCPA claim purported based on the debt collector's filing of false affidavits in a collection action. Frank hasn't carried that burden. She fails to identify a… Read More

In Krosch v. Equifax Info. Servs., LLC, No. 19-CV-2784 (NEB/KMM), 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99150, at *5-9 (D. Minn. June 5, 2020), Judge Brasel held that a consumer stated no FCRA claim against a CRA due to the CRA's alleged failure not to report all furnishers' tradelines. Experian argues that the Complaint fails to allege either of these elements because… Read More

In Spikener v. Ally Financial, Inc. , the Court of Appeal deferred to the FTC's 2019 interpretation of the FTC Holder Rule, holding that the Holder Rule limits recovery, including attorneys' fees, against the holder to the amount that the debtor paid under the assigned contract.  Civil Code 1459.5, which was enacted post-Lafferty to allow a debtor to recover uncapped attorneys'… Read More

In N. L. v. Credit One Bank, N.A., Nos. 19-15399, 19-15938, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 17434 (9th Cir. June 3, 2020), the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit followed Soppet and Osorio decisions regarding calls to recycled to cellular telephones. Credit One also attempts to draw support from certain orders of the FCC, which has authority to promulgate regulations implementing… Read More

In Zuniga v. Trueaccord, No. 18-683 KG/KRS, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95445 (D.N.M. June 1, 2020), the District Court granted summary judgment for the defendant debt collector in an FDCPA class action. Plaintiff admits that she owes $1,585.00 on the Golden Valley Lending loan. (Doc. 26-3) at 4, depo. at 72. On March 2, 2018, Defendant sent an email to… Read More

Attorneys Joseph Guzzetta and Evelina Manukyan published an article with the International Association of Privacy Professionals entitled "How function creep may cripple app-based contact tracing".  A link to the Article can be found at: https://iapp.org/news/a/how-function-creep-may-cripple-app-based-contact-tracing/   Read More

In Grant v. Regal Auto. Grp., No. 8:19-cv-363-T-23JSS, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91897, at *7 (M.D. Fla. May 27, 2020) , the District Court certified a 'ringless voicemail' TCPA class. The plaintiff proposes administratively feasible methods for ascertaining class members. First, the plaintiff aims to use third-party records, which should determine the scope of the potential class with precision. Although… Read More

In Madadian v. Maserati N. Am., No. B293688, 2020 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 3249, at *10-14 (May 26, 2020) , the Court of Appeal for the Second District held in an unpublished opinion that the costs a consumer incurred in exercising a lease-end purchase price were not recoverable as the "purchase price" under the Song-Beverly Act. 3. The vehicle purchase… Read More

In In re Capital One Consumer Data Sec. Breach Litig., No. 1:19md2915 (AJT/JFA), 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91736, at *5-9 (E.D. Va. May 26, 2020), Judge Anderson found that a consultant's report prepared in connection with a data breach was not entitled to work product protection and must be turned over to the Plaintiffs. The facts were as follows: On… Read More

In Wright v. USAA Sav. Bank, No. 2:19-cv-00591 WBS CKD, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90576 (E.D. Cal. May 21, 2020), Judge Shubb found no revocation of consent under the TCPA where the consumer purposefully mailed the revocation letter to the wrong address. Under the facts presented here, no reasonable trier of fact could find that plaintiff used reasonable means to… Read More

In Sarrouf Law LLP v. First Republic Bank, 97 Mass. App. Ct. 467, 471-79 (2020), the Massachusetts Court of Appeals held that a law firm's negligence action against its bank arising out of the dishonor of funds the firm deposited in the bank due to the fraud of a client was properly dismissed because the bank had no duty to detect… Read More

In Alcivar v. Enhanced Recovery Co., No. 17-CV-2275 (ILG), 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88998, at *3-6 (E.D.N.Y. May 20, 2020), Judge Glasser awarded $33,916.84 in attorneys' fees and $2,769.14 in costs to defense counsel based on the following facts. Discovery proved contentious, in two ways. First, Tawanda Frazier refused to comply with Defendant's subpoena. (ECF No. 16 at 2). Second,… Read More

In Norton v. Lvnv Funding, No. 18-cv-05051-DMR, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88809, at *1-2 (N.D. Cal. May 19, 2020), Magistrate Judge Ryu permitted amendment to allow assertion of an affirmative defense of "set-off". Plaintiff Sonya Norton filed this putative class action against Defendants LVNV Funding, LLC ("LVNV") and Law Office of Harris & Zide ("H&Z") alleging violations of the federal… Read More

In a recent weblog post, the CFPB warned against creditors undertaking unfair and discriminatory servicing of debts during the COVID-19 crisis.  The CFPB explained: We are monitoring the marketplace in real time and coordinating on an ongoing basis with fellow Federal and State regulators who are committed to stopping COVID-19-related malfeasance. We are taking, and will continue to take, swift… Read More

In Greene v. TrueAccord, Case 3:19-cv-06651-EMC (N.D. Cal. 2020), here, Judge Chen dismissed an FDCPA case premised on the Plaintiff's claim that the defendant could not e-mail the FDCPA's validation notice. Ms. Greene contends that TA violated the FDCPA by sending her the validation notice by email – as part of the initial communication – without complying first with the… Read More