Commercial Litigation
Court Resolves FOIA Fight in Favor of BCFP
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia has resolved a two-and-a-half-year battle over whether the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection must release, under the Freedom of Information Act, documents related to the Bureau’s enforcement action against—and eventual consent order with—Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA). In Frank LLP v. Consumer Fin. Prot. Bureau, in…
Read MoreCalifornia Supreme Court Continues to Resist Arbitration
On April 6, 2017, the California Supreme Court invalidated a contractual arbitration provision on the basis that California state law prohibits enforcement of arbitration agreements that would bar claims for public injunctive relief. Its decision – California’s latest in a series of decisions aimed toward invalidating contractual arbitration provisions –appears inconsistent with the “national policy…
Read MoreA Catch-22 for Foreclosure Lawyers?
Foreclosure attorneys struggle to find an appropriate way to comply with the FDCPA’s requirement that a validation notice correctly state the amount of the debt in cases in which the balance is changing constantly due to a variety of factors. In Carlin v. Davidson Fink LLP, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 5438 (7th Cir. Mar. 29,…
Read MoreSupreme Court Provides Harsh Lesson on the Importance of a Writing
Bankruptcy is intended to allow an honest but unfortunate debtor to obtain a fresh start. In order to keep dishonest debtors from abusing the process, Congress has defined a class of debts which cannot be discharged in a bankruptcy proceeding. One of the common exceptions to discharge is debts incurred through fraud. However, the Bankruptcy…
Read MoreSixth Circuit Dismisses FDCPA Claims for Lack of Article III Standing
Holding that “Congress cannot override [the] baseline requirement of Article III of the U.S. Constitution by labeling the violation of any requirement of a statute a cognizable injury,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ordered dismissal of an FDCPA suit predicated upon a letter’s lack of a “mini-Miranda” warning for lack…
Read MoreNinth Circuit Rejects Creative Attempt to Defeat FDCPA Claim
A lawsuit is an asset. May a creditor execute upon a judgment against a debtor to take away the debtor’s FDCPA cause of action? The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has held that it may not. In Arellano v. Clark Cty. Collection Serv., No. 16-15467, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 23229 (9th…
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