Consumer Finance

In Alpha Tech Pet, Inc. v. Lagasse, LLC, 2016 WL 4678316, at *3–5 (N.D.Ill., 2016), Judge Durkin denied a motion to dismiss a blast fax case, finding that the faxes plausibly were advertisements. Here, all four faxes Defendants contest are plausibly advertisements. The March 15 and February 15 faxes provide the prices for certain goods and encourage customers to investigate… Read More

In Mauer v. American Intercontinental University, Inc., 2016 WL 4651395, at *4 (N.D.Ill., 2016), Judge Ellis allowed a TCPA case past the pleading stage based on a plea of a "pause" to demonstrate absence of human intervention. Here, Mauer alleges that when she answered the call from John Doe, “there was a noticeable pause before the representative came on the… Read More

In Riekki v. Bayview Financial Loan Servicing, 2016 WL 4083216 (D. Nev. 2016), Judge Mahan found that post-Chapter 13 discharge credit reporting of a debt was not improper. Plaintiff argues that defendant furnished an inaccurate credit report in violation of the FCRA. (ECF No. 29). Plaintiff alleges that the report is inaccurate because defendant reported a debt on plaintiff’s delinquent… Read More

In Shaun Fauley v. Drug Depot, Inc., 2016 WL 4591831, at *3 (N.D.Ill., 2016), Judge Kendall allowed a TCPA blast-fax class action past the pleadings stage based on post-Spokeo standing. Based on that holding, APS contends that the Complaint should be dismissed as it is alleges nothing more than a procedural violation of the TCPA. (See Dkt. No. 40 at… Read More

A copy of the amicus brief can be found here:  AFSA Motion and Amicus Brief Court Stamped Version Read More

In Brooks v. Leon’s Quality Adjusters, Inc., 2016 WL 4539967 (E.D. Cal. 2016), Judge Thurston granted summary judgment to a repossession company under the FDCPA and Rosenthal Act. Moreover, courts have determined repossession companies, such as Leon’s Quality Adjusters, are not generally “debt collectors” subject to liability under the FDCPA. See, e.g., Montgomery v. Huntington Bank, 346 F.3d 693, 699… Read More

In Juarez v. Citibank, N.A., 2016 WL 4547914 (N.D. Cal. 2016), Judge Orrick confirmed (again) his opinion that the TCPA afford Article III standing to TCPA plaintiffs who received multiple telephone calls. Several courts have addressed whether a plaintiff’s allegations that she received annoying and unwanted phone calls in violation of the TCPA is sufficient to establish Article III standing… Read More

In Hewlett v. Consolidated World Travel, Inc., 2016 WL 4466536, at *3 (E.D.Cal., 2016), Judge Shubb found Article III standing for multiple texts received by a TCPA Plaintiff. In support of its argument that plaintiff here does not sufficiently state a concrete injury, defendant relies on a ruling in a similar TCPA class action in Smith v. Aitima Medical Equipment,… Read More

In Aranda v. Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc., 2016 WL 4439935, at *6–7 (N.D.Ill., 2016), Judge Kennelly found post-Spokeo standing for a TCPA class representative and said that individual inquiries regarding class members' standing did not affect class certification. The Court respectfully disagrees with the reasoning of the judge in Aitima Medical Equipment. In contrast to statutes that impose obligations regarding how one… Read More

In Dixon v. Monterey Financial Services, Inc., 2016 WL 4426908, at *1–2 (N.D.Cal., 2016), Judge Chesney struck a TCPA class definition a second time, as the amendment to the class definition still was a fail-safe class. By order filed June 24, 2016, the Court granted defendant's motion to strike the class allegations in the First Amended Complaint (“FAC”), finding the… Read More

In Anenkova v. Van Ru Credit Corporation, 2016 WL 4379296, at *5–7 (E.D.Pa., 2016), Judge Savage recognized that he was bound by Douglass, but nevertheless recognized a benign language exception and found that a debt collector's disclosure of a bar code did not violate the FDCPA. Having recognized a benign language exception, we turn to whether the exception applies to… Read More

In Smith v. Aitima Medical Equipment, Inc., here,  Judge Birotte dismissed a TCPA claim based on lack of Art. III standing.  In Szumilas v. CBE Group, LLC., here, however, Judge Birotte found Art. III standing in a TCPA case.  The difference between the two outcomes seemed to be the volume of the calls.   Read More

In Lee v. Loandepot.com, LLC, 2016 WL 4382786, at *5 (D.Kan., 2016), Judge Melgren held that the Husband, as a regular user of the wife's cell phone, had standing to sue under the TCPA. Moving on to the legal issue at hand, the 2015 FCC Order defines the term “called party” as the “subscriber, i.e., the consumer assigned the telephone… Read More

In Jackson v. Blitt & Gaines, P.C., 2016 WL 4376514, at *1 (7th Cir. 2016), the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that garnishment proceedings are not subject to the FDCPA's venue provisions. At issue in this appeal is whether a wage-garnishment action under Illinois law is a “legal action” on a debt against a consumer under the… Read More

In Blakeney v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc., 2016 WL 4270244, at *4–6 (N.D.Cal., 2016), Judge Koh dismissed a FCRA claim grounded in debt collectors' reporting of an account passing through Chapter 13 bankruptcy. As to Plaintiff's first theory of liability, the FCRA requires a furnisher to “conduct an investigation with respect to the disputed information” after the furnisher receives notice… Read More

In Nichols v. Century West, LLC, 2016 WL 4368157, at *7–8 (Cal.App. 2 Dist., 2016), the Court of Appeal held that post-dated checks were not "deferred down-payments" under ASFA and did not violate the single document rule. None of these cases offers guidance on whether post-dated checks provided to a dealership at the time of a sale should be categorized as… Read More

In Larson v. Transunion, LLC, 2016 WL 4367253, at *4 (N.D.Cal., 2016), Judge Orrick found Spokeo standing for a FCRA class representative and absent classmembers, and granted class certification. Given that Larson continues to have Article III standing to bring this case despite Spokeo, Trans Union' s challenges to my tentative rulings on ascertainability, predominance, and superiority also fail. Each… Read More

In Ikuseghan v. Multicare Health System, 2016 WL 4363198, at *2 (W.D.Wash., 2016), Judge Settle surveyed TCPA class action settlements and found that 30% of the recovery was a proper benchmark for awarding attorneys fees in a TCPA class action. Here, the requested attorneys' fees represent 33% of the settlement fund. Ikuseghan argues district courts frequently grant fee awards of… Read More

In Quinn v. Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC, 2016 WL 4264967, at *4–5 (N.D.Ill., 2016), Judge Bucklo rejected a Spokeo challenge to an FDCPA class action grounded in the Defendant's alleged contact with represented debtors. I am unpersuaded. As an initial matter, despite SLS's suggestion to the contrary, Spokeo does not stand for the proposition that a procedural violation of a… Read More

In Jenkins v. MGage, LLC, 2016 WL 4263937, at *5–7 (N.D.Ga. 2016), the District Court found that the human intervention required to trigger the sending of text messages disqualified Defendants' text-message system from constituting an ATDS. Defendants argue they are entitled to summary judgment because the text messages were sent as the result of human intervention, and thus were not… Read More