In Stolt-Nielsen S. A. v. Animal Feeds Int’l Corp., the Supreme Court held in 2010 that a court may not compel arbitration on a class-wide basis when an agreement is “silent” on the availability of class arbitration. The court recognized…
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has vacated an award of over $70,000 in fees and costs to a prevailing plaintiff in an FDCPA case. In Portalatin v. Blatt, Hasenmiller, Leibsker & Moore, LLC, the plaintiff…
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. …
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…
A line of cases developing within the Third Circuit highlights the need for the Supreme Court to grant the pending petition for a writ of Certiorari in Oliva v. Blatt, Hasenmiller, Leibsker & Moore, LLC. The crucial question to be…
Section 1692e(11) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act forbids: the failure to disclose in the initial written communication with the consumer and, in addition, if the initial communication with the consumer is oral, in that initial oral communication, that…
In a decision that cries out for legislative action the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled that attorneys who collect consumer debts in the Seventh Circuit may not rely upon decisions of the Seventh Circuit…
Earlier this month, Justice Gorsuch’s opinion in Henson v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc. served as a reminder that courts should refrain from reading absent terms into clear and unambiguous statutory language. On June 22, the Second Circuit followed this directive…
In his debut opinion, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch wrote for a unanimous United States Supreme Court, holding that banks and financial companies that purchase and collect defaulted debt are not “debt collectors” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. At…