CFPB, Federal Agencies, State Agencies, and Attorneys General
Consumer advocates often contend that Congress should prohibit arbitration agreements with class action waivers because servicemembers and other consumers need class actions to effectuate their statutory rights. However, a report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to Congress last month contains data that refutes that argument.
The GAO report studied the impact of mandatory…
After reviewing the legal developments leading to this surging litigation phenomenon and describing its use by plaintiffs’ attorneys, we discuss the courts’ position on mass arbitration, short-and long-term strategies for companies to consider in addressing the risks of mass arbitration demands, including revisions to arbitration agreements, changes to AAA’s fee schedule, and policy implications.
Ballard…
NACA is one of the plaintiffs in the Massachusetts lawsuit challenging the CFPB’s creation of its Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law. Mr. Rheingold discusses the legal basis for the lawsuit, NACA’s views on how the CFPB should approach modernization of federal consumer financial laws, and NACA’s support for federal legislation or new CFPB rulemaking…
Proposed legislation now working its way through the New Jersey Senate would eliminate the eligibility of postsecondary students and other individuals for State student assistance, training and employment services, including grants, scholarships and loans, if the school or training provider requires students to sign enrollment contracts that include “forced arbitration and other restrictive clauses, including…
After a recap of industry’s successful history in defeating challenges to the use of arbitration agreements to limit class action exposure, we discuss the threat of individual public injunctive relief claims to the use of arbitration resulting from recent California and Ninth Circuit decisions, efforts to distinguish such claims from claims for other relief, drafting…
On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer and White Sales, Inc. to decide a question that has divided the federal circuit courts and state supreme courts: “whether a provision in an arbitration agreement that exempts certain claims from arbitration negates an otherwise clear and unmistakable delegation…
Briefing is now complete on the petitions for certiorari in the Blair v. Rent-A-Center appeals that could produce the next blockbuster U.S. Supreme Court arbitration decision. At issue is whether the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts California’s McGill Rule. Under the McGill Rule, an arbitration agreement that precludes a consumer from pursuing claims for “public”…
After denying the defendants’ petitions for panel and en banc rehearing in the Blair v. Rent-a-Center appeals, the Ninth Circuit has granted their motions to stay the issuance of the Court’s mandates for 90 days pending the filing of petitions for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court. If petitions for certiorari are filed, the stays…
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…
A group of small businesses and their individual owners have filed a putative class action lawsuit in a New York federal district court against online lender Kabbage, Inc. that alleges Kabbage engaged in a “rent-a-charter” scheme to make loans at interest rates that were usurious under state law.
According to the complaint, Kabbage entered…
