Consumer Finance

In Gadomski v. Wells Fargo Bank N.A., 2018 WL 263903, at *3–4 (E.D.Cal., 2018), Judge Nunley rejected a consumer's claim that her FCRA claim was not subject to contractual arbitration because she'd had an intervening bankruptcy discharge. Plaintiff first argues the Agreement was rendered unenforceable because of the Bankruptcy Action. (ECF No. 15 at 5–6.) However, Plaintiff offers no cases… Read More

In Powell v. Aldous & Associates, P.L.L.C., 2018 WL 278736, at *7–8 (D.N.J., 2018), Judge McNulty dismissed an FDCPA class action based on a letter that allegedly falsely threatened legal action.  Judge McNulty found that the letter did no such thing. Powell claims that the Aldous letter threatens legal action in violation of Section 1692e(5). In that respect, he argues, this… Read More

In Abante Rooter & Plumbing v. Farmers Group, Inc.,  2018 WL 288055, at *6 (N.D.Cal., 2018), Judge Hamilton found that a TCPA Plaintiff had adequately pleaded use of an ATDS used by an alleged Farmers representative in a telemarketing campaign, but found that the Plaintiff had failed to plead enough facts to demonstrate that Farmers should be responsible for the alleged… Read More

In Clark v. Cavalry Portfolio Services, LLC, 2017 WL 6757224, at *4 (S.D.N.Y., 2017), Judge Bricetti found that the adequacy of service of process was not litigated in the underlying debt collection suit and could form the basis of an FDCPA claim. Thus, pursuant to the transactional approach applied under New York law when analyzing whether an issue was or… Read More

In Casto v. Branch Banking & Trust Company, 2018 WL 265586, at *1–13 (S.D.W.Va., 2018), Judge Chambers denied a Bank's summary judgment seeking to dispose of a TCPA claim, in part, finding problems with Defendant's "mail-box" rule argument with respect to when the Defendant's agent received the written revocation. Indeed, Defendant vies for summary judgment upon the receipt date of the… Read More

In George v. Guitar Center, Inc., 2018 WL 259001, at *1 (Cal.App. 2 Dist., 2018), the Plaintiffs challenged Guitar Center's practice of requesting and recording personal identification information when customers in its California stores pay using a credit card. The Court of Appeal in an unpublished decision found that the statute prohibits merchants from requesting personal identification information but only if the customer… Read More

In Geismar v. Owen Loan Servicing, LLC., 2018 WL 276813, at *4 (N.D.Cal., 2018), Judge Corely tired of waiting for the DC Circuit to issue its decision in the ACA Int'l proceedings and lifted a stay, but granted a lender's motion to dismiss a common law negligence claim that was filed as  corollary to a TCPA claim. The Court recognizes that some California federal… Read More

In Western World Insurance Company v. Professional Collection Consultants, 2018 WL 259309, at *1–2 (9th Cir. 2018), the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the District Court's summary judgment in favor of a D&O carrier who rescinded a policy due to the insured Debt Collection Agency's misrepresentation in the policy application. In August 2013, FBI agents executed a… Read More

In Huffington v. Gordon, Aylworth & Tami, P.C., 2017 WL 6626317, at *4 (D.Or., 2017), Judge Acosta granted summary judgment to a debt collection law firm who had changed its name during the course of collecting on a particular debt. Viewing the instant facts through the eyes of the least sophisticated debtor, Heffington's argument here fails for three reasons. First, with… Read More

In Muehlenberg v. Experian Information Solutions, et. al., 2017 WL 6622837, at *3–4 (N.D.Cal., 2017), Judge Orrick dismissed an FCRA case premised on allegedly inaccurate reporting of an account as it passed through Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings. The Chase Defendants next contend that a review of the entire challenged report “in context” shows that Muehlenberg has not plausibly alleged any inaccuracy… Read More

In this Article, Severson & Werson partners Rebecca Saelao and Scott Hyman discuss the effect of a class action plaintiff’s dismissal of claims or damages at the instruction of class counsel in order to conform their individual claim to the claims of the putative class and, purportedly, to better their chances for class certification.   A copy of the Article can… Read More

Severson & Werson's Financial Services Practice Group's Law Bulletin on "California State and Federal Courts Have Different Class Certification Rules on Whether Putative Class-members Must Be Ascertainable" can be found here.   Read More

In Fredrickson v. Cannon Federal Credit Union, 2017 WL 6558578, at *4 (D.N.M., 2017), Judge Brack granted summary judgment to a furnisher who allegedly failed to report a consumer's dispute as "disputed" because, Judge Brack said, the dispute was meritless. Furnishers can breach their § 1681s–2(b) duties if they fail to report the existence of a dispute because such an omission… Read More

In Etter v. Allstate Insurance Company, 2017 WL 6594069, at *4–5 (N.D.Cal., 2017), Judge Alsup denied certification of one TCPA blast-fax case due to lack of class representative's standing, but granted certification of a second class.  As to the standing issue, Judge Alsup found that: Etter cites various decisions for the proposition that “awareness” of an offending transmission is unnecessary to establish… Read More

In Dacumos v. Toyota Motor Credit Corporation, 2017 WL 6406137, at *4–5 (W.D.Wash., 2017), Judge Martinez found that dismissal of a state court collection action by itself did not vitiate the debt and require the creditor to report the balance as "0". Plaintiff contends that because TMCC dismissed the collection case against her in King County Superior Court, that dismissal acts… Read More

In Gold v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, 2017 WL 6342575, at *2 (E.D.Mich., 2017), Judge Murphy granted in part and denied in part a TCPA defendant's motion to dismiss. Plaintiff's TCPA claims regarding phone calls made prior to May 10, 2013 are time barred. TCPA claims are subject to a four-year statute of limitations. See 28 U.S.C. § 1658(a); see… Read More

In Miller v. Ginny's Inc., 2017 WL 6398302, at *4–5 (M.D.Fla., 2017), Judge Honeywell denied a TCPA plaintiff's summary judgment motion. Miller submitted an affidavit in which she attested that every time she spoke with a Ginny's representative, she requested that Ginny's stop calling her, that she would not make payment, and that she preferred to receive written bills every… Read More

In Pennachietti v. Manfield, 2017 WL 6311646, at *1 (E.D.Pa., 2017), Judge Pappert denied a motion to dismiss filed by a manager of a tribal-based lender accused of issuing a usurious loan. Daniel Pennachietti received an allegedly usurious loan through an internet website operated by Sovereign Lending Solutions, LLC, a title lending company established under the tribal law of the Lac… Read More

In Ma v. Equifax Information Services, LLC, 2017 WL 6378979, at *6 (N.D.Ga., 2017), Judge May denied an FCRA defendant's Daubert challenge to a plaintiff's FCRA expert. This case arises from an alleged mix-up of consumer credit files, sale of inaccurate information to creditors, and a failure to fix the problem. Dkt. No. [1]. Plaintiff alleges these problems occurred when another person's… Read More

In Leones v. Rushmore Loan Management Services, LLC, 2017 WL 6343622, at *3 (S.D.Fla., 2017), Judge Dimitrouleas dismissed an FCRA class action because the information reported was not inaccurate in the first instance. Here, the reported information regarding Plaintiff's mortgage loan account—that it was 120 days or more delinquent and that foreclosure proceedings were initiated—was both accurate and complete. The Court… Read More