Consumer Finance

Every article regarding any bill referred to the California Senate (or Assembly) Appropriations Committee suspense file begins with a pun about being in suspense, and so does ours.  At a hearing of the California Senate Appropriations Committee on April 29, 2019, Senate Bill 561, written by Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D – Santa Barbara), which would add a private right of… Read More

In Timlick v. Nat'l Enter. Sys., No. A154235, 2019 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 3198 (May 7, 2019), the California Court of Appeal found that a type-size error was able to be cured under the Rosenthal Act’s safe harbor. While, strictly speaking, the legislative history of the Consumer Collection Notice law has no bearing in discerning the legislative intent of section… Read More

In Melvin v. Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC, No. 8:18-cv-1911-T-36SPF, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 74995, at *12-14 (M.D. Fla. May 3, 2019), Judge Honeywell found that a TCPA Plaintiff had adequately pleaded use of an ATDS. The Court is persuaded by the reasoning in Gonzalez and Adams and concludes that the portion of the 2003 FCC Order pronouncing that the TCPA… Read More

As FY 2015 came to a close, the FTC asked for commentary on its Holder Rule for assignee liability.  Consumers and Industry responded in early 2016.  Three years in the making, the FTC finally responded, issuing its commentary today in the Federal Register, and it's first official commentary since the Rule was promulgated in 1975.  FTC Commentary on Holder Rule 5-2-19. … Read More

As the deadline for policy committees in the California Legislature to report non-fiscal bills out of their respective Committees looms, this week saw a number of privacy-related bills heard in the Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection. In addition, the appropriations committees are also facing deadlines in mid-May to hear hundreds of bills that would have a fiscal impact… Read More

In Huff v. Telecheckservices,inc, No. 18-5438, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 13367 (6th Cir. May 3, 2019), the Court of Appeal for the Sixth Circuit found that an FCRA plaintiff had no no Art. III standing. This case deals with a fading technology (checks) and an evergreen imperative (Article III standing). When a customer buys something with a check, merchants often… Read More

In Hall v. Southwest Credit Sys., L.P., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73350, *5-11 (D.C. Dist. May 1, 2019), Judge Howell found that a debt collector's failure to report to the consumer reporting agencies that the account was "disputed" could violate multiple provisions of the FDCPA. This case concerns one allegation: The defendant reported a debt to credit bureaus that the… Read More

Representative Waters, who heads the House Financial Services Committee, issued a statement in advance of hosting hearings on discrimination in automobile purchasing and financing.  According to the witness list, testimony was limited to consumer advocates and no witnesses from industry testified.  (https://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=403647)  Representative Waters issued this statement: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Buying a car is a significant purchase for many Americans… Read More

In Revitch v. Citibank, N.A., No. C 17-06907 WHA, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72026, at *11-14 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 28, 2019), Judge Alsup denied class certification in a TCPA "wrong number" class action. District courts have split on the propriety of class certification in similar "wrong number" TCPA actions. Plaintiff heavily relies on a line of decisions that includes West… Read More

In Abdollahzadeh v. Mandarich Law Grp., LLP, No. 18-1904, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 12887, at *2-3 (7th Cir. Apr. 29, 2019), the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit found that a collection attorney could rely on its client's information under the bona fide error rule. Abdollahzadeh challenges that ruling on several grounds. First, he argues that Mandarich's continuation of… Read More

In Melito v. Eperian Mktg. Sols., Nos. 17-3277-cv (L), 17-3279-cv (Con), 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 12945, at *16-20 (2d Cir. Apr. 30, 2019), the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit followed the 9th Circuit's decision in Van Patten and held that the District Court had jurisdiction to address a class action because the class representative had Article III standing under Spokeo. Experian contends… Read More

In the last two months, we have kept you up to date on the progress of California Senate Bill 561, Jackson (D – Santa Barbara), a bill backed by the California Attorney General that would add a full private right of action to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”), allowing any California consumer to sue any company… Read More

In Mueller v. I.C. Sys., No. 18-CV-336 (AMD) (RML), 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70342, at *4-5 (E.D.N.Y. Apr. 25, 2019), Judge Donnelly let an FDCPA case past the pleadings stage. While the plaintiff's contract with Liberty Power does include a check box describing the "customer" as a "corporation," the plaintiff asserts that his intent in signing the contract was to… Read More

In Chandler v. Peoples Bank & Tr. Co., No. 18-5361, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 12100, at *13-14 (6th Cir. Apr. 24, 2019), an FCRA plaintiff complained that a creditor and it's assignee breached a bankruptcy re-affirmation agreement, resulting in inaccurate reporting.  Once the 6th Circuit found that there was no breach, the Court of Appeals found that no FCRA claim… Read More

In Breckenridge v. Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp., No. 18-10787, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70049, at *11-12 (E.D. Mich. Apr. 25, 2019), Judge Hood granted summary judgment to an automobile finance company as to a debtor's claim that the passage of time from repossession to sale violated the UCC. Nissan states that Plaintiffs have not produced any evidence that the Altima… Read More

On April 23, 2019, the California Assembly’s Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection (the “Committee”) held a whirlwind, three-hour hearing on 40 pending bills, including numerous bills that relate to consumer privacy and amend the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”). With a deadline of April 26 for the Committee to report fiscal bills and a deadline of… Read More

In Greene v. Fay Servicing, LLC, No. 19-cv-01073-JSC, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68107, at *7-9 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 22, 2019), Judge Green remanded a Rosenthal Act claim for absence of federal jurisdiction. Defendants' notice of removal asserts that federal jurisdiction exists because the second cause [*8]  of action under the RFDCPA references violations of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act ("FDCPA"),… Read More

In this blog post, https://www.severson.com/consumer-finance/ccpa-ab-1760-amended-to-become-privacy-for-all-act-of-2019/, we previously reported on the “Privacy for All Act of 2019”, Assembly Bill 1760 (“AB 1760” or the “Bill”), introduced by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks (D – Oakland).  Less than a month after Assemblywoman Wicks introduced the Bill, which would have re-enacted much of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”), but would have… Read More

One of the things that we do for our industry is gauge the loudness of the volume of various issues in an attempt to predict trends.  Advocacy groups' coordinated efforts typically result in the volume of issues being turned up across social media and in the press. As the industry awaits new rules on debt collection from the CFPB, we've noticed… Read More

Supporters of Senate Bill 561 (Jackson – D, Santa Barbara) relied on a recent poll of 800 likely 2020 presidential election voters in California, commissioned by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (the “ACLU”) and conducted by David Binder Research, to support stronger privacy laws in California.  The poll was brought to light at a recent Senate committee hearing… Read More