Consumer Finance

In Muhammad v. Reese Law Group, APC,  2017 WL 4557194, at *5 (S.D.Cal., 2017), Judge Anello held that alleged mispresentations made in a debt collection complaint were barred by the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. Here, the Court finds Plaintiff's misrepresentation and over-collection claim is barred by the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. Plaintiff argues she “does not challenge the validity of the 2001 money judgment,” thus Rooker-Feldman is… Read More

In San Pedro-Salcedo v. The Haagen-Dazs Shoppe Company, Inc., 2017 WL 4536422, at *2 (N.D.Cal., 2017), Judge Davila found that a confirming text may be, on the facts pleaded, an advertisement that triggers the TCPA. Defendants contend that the text is not advertising or telemarketing because it does not encourage Plaintiff to purchase property, goods or services. Plaintiff argues that the… Read More

Dear Subscribers, We are proud to announce that Severson & Werson's Personal Property Finance weblog  (www.calautofinance.com) enters its 10th year, we have decided to export it to the Firm's main (and new and improved!) website (www.severson.com).  Your subscriptions to receive our periodic e-mails also will be exported to the new site and yours truly is proud to continue my involvement… Read More

In Farrish v. Navy Federal Credit Union, 2017 WL 4418416, at *2–3 (D.Md., 2017), Judge Chasanow dismissed a TCPA claim based on debt collection calls placed by a credit munition because such calls are exempt from the TCPA. The TCPA prohibits certain problematic telephone solicitation practices. 47 U.S.C. § 227(b). In enacting the TCPA, Congress allowed the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”)… Read More

In Lundstedt v. I.C. System, Inc., 2017 WL 4281057, at *2–3 (D.Conn., 2017), Judge Meyer allowed an FDCPA claim to proceed based on the call pattern alleged in the Complaint. [D]efendant argues that the alleged pattern of calls—29 calls over a period of 24 days—is legally insufficient to show an intent to annoy, abuse, or harass plaintiff as the statute requires.… Read More

In Arwa Chiropractic, P.C. v. Med-Care Diabetic & Medical Supplies, Inc., 2017 WL 4339788, at *8–9 (N.D.Ill., 2017), Judge Lee rejected the defendant's argument that mini-trials on the issue of consent meant that a class action was not the superior means of adjudicating a TCPA blast-fax class action.  Judge Lee found that the defendant did not make a prima facie showing… Read More

In Mohamed v. American Motor Company, LLC., 2017 WL 4310757, at *3–4 (S.D.Fla., 2017), Judge Torres struck the Plaintiff's Expert Jeff Hansen as being unreliable, even though he was qualified to testify. OLO next argues that Mr. Hansen's testimony should be excluded because it is unreliable, as Mr. Hansen did not test, review, or inspect the actual platform or system before… Read More

In FTC v. The Primary Group, Inc., 2017 WL 4329713, at *2 (C.A.11 (Ga.), 2017), the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit established what must be proven to establish respondent superior liability on the corporate owner under the FDCPA. We have not yet decided what suffices to show that a corporation's owners, officers, or employees had knowledge of its violations… Read More

In Simpson v. Safeguard Properties, LLC., 2017 WL 4310674, at *4–7 (N.D.Ill., 2017), Judge Gottschall denied summary judgment to a door-hanger company who claimed that it was not subject to the FDCPA. The FDCPA “is not aimed...“at companies that perform ministerial duties for debt collectors, such as stuffing and printing the debt collector's letters.” White v. Goodman, 200 F.3d 1016, 1019… Read More

In Garcia v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc., 2017 WL 4325777, at *2–3 (E.D.Cal., 2017), Judge McGill ordered an auto finance case to arbitration, allowing the Arbitrator to determine the effect of McGill on the enforceability of the Arbitration clause. The arbitration provision stated in part, “Any claim or dispute is to be arbitrated by a single arbitrator on an individual basis and not… Read More

In McGill v. Citibank, 2017 WL 4382034, at *3 (Cal.App. 4 Dist., 2017) (unpublished), the Court of Appeal put its gloss on the Supreme Court's decision in McGill and what is left for the trial court to decide on remand. The Supreme Court concluded its opinion with the following paragraph: “Our invalidation of the arbitration provision insofar as it purports to waive McGill's… Read More

In Eldridge v. Cabela's Inc., 2017 WL 4364205, at *9–10 (W.D.Ky., 2017), Judge Hale struck the Plaintiff's "stop" class, which Judge Hale re-characterized as a "revocation" class. Cabela's maintains that what Eldridge passes as “Stop” classes are really “Revocation” classes. In other words, the “Stop” classes are comprised of persons who had a prior relationship with Cabela's but subsequently revoked their… Read More

In Daugherty v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, 2017 WL 3172422, (4th Cir. July 24, 2017), the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the jury's finding of improper reinvestigation and willfulness against a furnisher, but found the punitive damages award to be constitutionally excessive. We must affirm the district court's judgment regarding Ocwen's liability for willful misconduct if there was sufficient… Read More

In Golan v. Veritas Entertainment, LLC, 2017 WL 3923162, No. 4:14CV00069 ERW (E.D. Mo. September 7, 2017), Judge Webber found, after a trial on the merits, that the TCPA’s damages provision has constitutional due process limitations and, therefore, reduced the statutory damages to be awarded to $10 per call. The violations in this case involved the use of automated telephone equipment… Read More

In Rodriguez v. A Better Way Wholesale Autos, Inc., 176 Conn.App. 392, 2017 WL 3977264 (Conn. App. April 17, 2017) , the Connecticut Court of Appeal held that adjudicating a dispute between the dealer and the finance company was properly within an Arbitrator’s jurisdiction in a consumer versus dealer arbitration. Here, A Better Way asserts that the parties' submission to… Read More

The CFPB just issued its Summer Supervisory Highlights regarding complaints lodged against debt collection, a copy of which can be found here.  The CFPB notes that its examiners' reviewed numerous companies, both within the united states and from foreign countries, and highlighted the following types of common violations: Unauthorized communications with third parties False representations made to authorized credit card users… Read More

In Medina v. South Coast Car Company, 2017 WL 4128076, at *8 (Cal.App. 4 Dist., 2017), the Court of Appeal held that a settlement agreement entitling Plaintiff to attorneys' fees was not capped by the FTC Holder Rule. In light of the Settlement and section 5, which, the parties agreed, made Medina the “prevailing party,” it is clear from the plain… Read More

Scott Hyman and Alisa Givental published an article in the Conference on Consumer Finance Law Quarterly entitled Hyman & Givental, California's Single Document Rule for Retail Automobile Transactions, 70 Conf. Cons. F. Law Q.  134 (Summer 2017).  A copy of the Article can be found here. Read More

Scott Hyman, Don Cram, and Bernie Kornberg published an article in the Conference on Consumer Finance Law Quarterly entitled Hyman, Cram, & Kornberg, The Intersection of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Federal Consumer Bankruptcy Laws, 70 Conf. Con. Fin. L. Q 113 (Summer 2017). A copy of the article can be found here. Read More

Severson & Werson published an article entitled Hyman & Walser-Jolly, The Effect of the FDCPA's "Consumer" Limitation on Class Certification:  Do Courts Apply Different Standards in Individual and Class Actions", 70 Conf. Cons. Fin. L. Q. 172 (Summer 2017).  A copy of the article can be found here.     Read More