For decades, the debate over arbitration agreements and class action waivers in consumer financial services contracts has largely played out in courtrooms, before regulators and Congress, and in academic journals. Advocates and critics have debated issues ranging from consumer access to justice and deterrence to litigation costs and whether the benefits of arbitration are ultimately passed along to consumers.… Continue Reading

Legislation that prohibits a health care provider or debt collector from reporting medical debt to credit reporting agencies has become law in Washington, D.C.

The legislation became law without the signature of Mayor Muriel Bowser, who said she supported the medical debt provisions, but opposed some unrelated provisions.

Among other things, the law:

  • Prohibits a health care provider or debt collector collecting on a medical debt from:
  • Garnishing of wages for those patients with a household income below 500% of the federal poverty level.
… Continue Reading

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has responded to the multistate lawsuit challenging its recent actions concerning mortgage escrow accounts with a motion that presents a merits argument as well as three distinct procedural paths: dismissal, transfer, or, potentially, a pause while the Supreme Court considers related preemption issues.… Continue Reading

The Supreme Court yesterday took an important step toward resolving the growing uncertainty over the scope of National Bank Act preemption. In an order issued October 5, the Court invited the Solicitor General to file briefs expressing the views of the United States in three cases involving state laws requiring national banks to pay interest on mortgage escrow accounts: Cantero v.… Continue Reading

On September 29, President Trump brought together many of the leading executives in artificial intelligence for a White House meeting focused on the risks associated with increasingly powerful “frontier” AI systems. The meeting produced a one-page document entitled the “White House Accord on Super Intelligence, Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities.”… Continue Reading

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) has taken its long-running opposition to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) chartering of cryptocurrency companies to the courts.

On October 2, ICBA filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the OCC and Comptroller Jonathan Gould, challenging the OCC’s authority to charter non-depository, non-fiduciary cryptocurrency companies as national trust banks.… Continue Reading

Summary

On October 1, 2026, Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Department of Justice (DOJ) National Fraud Enforcement Division issued Directive 26-12 on corporate enforcement. The directive identifies four priority areas and instructs prosecutors to give “great weight” to a non-exhaustive list of factors in determining whether to bring charges and in negotiating plea or other agreements.… Continue Reading

The SpaceX IPO generated enormous attention for obvious reasons. It was the largest IPO in history, and the company’s stock price initially surged after trading began. But an important legal development associated with the IPO has received considerably less attention: SpaceX adopted an unusually comprehensive shareholder dispute-resolution regime (the “Regime”) in its bylaws.… Continue Reading

Judge Aiken Holds That “Combined Earnings” Means Federal Reserve Revenue, Not Profit

In a September 25, 2026, decision, Judge Ann Aiken of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon became the third federal district judge to reject the Office of Legal Counsel’s interpretation of the statutory mechanism Congress established to fund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.… Continue Reading

In an important September 22 decision, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois expanded its prior rulings concerning the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act (“IFPA”) to federal credit unions. The court granted the Illinois Bankers Association’s motion for partial reconsideration and held that the IFPA’s limitation on interchange fees (Interchange Fee Limitation) charged on the tax and gratuities portions of payment card transactions is preempted under the Federal Credit Union Act (FCUA) as applied to federal credit unions.… Continue Reading