The CFPB is asking the Texas federal district court to give it a 45-day extension to respond to the preliminary injunction motion filed by two trade groups in their lawsuit challenging the CFPB’s final payday/auto title/high-rate installment loan rule (Payday Rule).  The motion seeks a preliminary injunction to block the CFPB from enforcing the Payday Rule and asks the court to act on the motion by November 1.  The trade groups also filed a motion to lift the stay of their lawsuit that the district court had granted despite denying their request for a stay of the Payday Rule’s August 19, 2019 compliance date.

In its motion to extend the response deadline, the CFPB states that, if the stay of the lawsuit were not in effect, its response would be due by September 21.  The 45-day extension is sought if the court grants the trade groups’ motion to lift the stay.  In support of its request, the CFPB states the following:

The relief sought by this motion will not prejudice Plaintiffs. Moreover, to the extent that Plaintiffs aver their members are suffering irreparable harm that justifies Plaintiffs’ request for a ruling from this Court by November 1, the current time constraints are largely of Plaintiffs’ own making.  Plaintiffs did not file this lawsuit challenging the Payday Rule until almost 6 months after that rule was published in the Federal Register.  Plaintiffs then waited 94 days after the Court denied the parties’ joint motion to stay the compliance date of the Payday Rule, including 38 days after the Court denied Plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration, before submitting their Motion for a Preliminary Injunction.  The Bureau and the Court should not be unduly rushed in arguing and adjudicating these issues as a result of Plaintiffs’ own delay.  The requested extension would, if granted, give the Bureau 45 days to respond to Plaintiffs’ motion.