Litigation and Court Decisions

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On March 26, the American Bankers Association and the Consumer Bankers Association, represented by Ballard Spahr, filed an amicus brief in support of petitions for certiorari asking the Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit’s rulings in the Blair v. Rent-A-Center appeals that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not preempt California’s McGill rule. The…

A three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (Fourth Circuit) recently held in Baehrs v. The Creig Northrop Team et al that although the plaintiffs had alleged a violation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), they lacked standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution to sue…

A Maryland federal district court, in Jennings v. Dynamic Recovery Solutions LLC, ruled that the effect of a partial payment on revival of the statute of limitations was governed by the law of Delaware, the state designated in the choice of law provision in the plaintiff’s credit agreement, rather than the law of Maryland,…

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in McAdory v M.N.S. Associates, LLC and DNF Associates, LLC, in a 2-1 decision, that companies that engage third parties to collect consumer debts they acquired when the debts were in default, known as “passive debt buyers,” qualify as “debt collectors” subject to the…

With oral argument just days away, we interview Prof. Morrison who filed an amicus brief urging SCOTUS not to decide whether Dodd-Frank’s limits on the President’s authority to remove the CFPB Director are constitutional and dismiss the case. We examine his arguments that Seila Law has no standing to challenge the limits’ constitutionality and there…

Education Credit Management Corporation (“ECMC”), the guarantor of the student loan debt ruled dischargeable last month by the Chief Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, is appealing that decision to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

On January 17, ECMC filed…

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently ruled in Horia v. Nationwide Credit & Collection, Inc. that a consumer was not precluded from bringing a second FDCPA lawsuit against a debt collector for failing to notify a credit reporting agency that the debt was disputed even though the first lawsuit brought by…

On January 17, 2020, the Ninth Circuit denied the defendants’ petitions for panel and en banc rehearing in the Blair v. Rent a Center appeals, setting the stage for possible U.S. Supreme Court review of the California Supreme Court’s McGill Rule.  Under the McGill Rule, an arbitration agreement that precludes a consumer from pursuing claims…

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment on the pleadings in favor of the defendants (a debt buyer and a collection agency) in a putative class action that alleged the defendants had violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by sending the named plaintiff a collection letter identifying…

In an 8-1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in Rotkiske v. Klemm that the FDCPA’s one-year statute of limitations (SOL) runs from the date of the alleged violation and not from a consumer’s discovery of the violation.  The decision resolves a circuit split, with the Third Circuit having taken the position adopted by…