Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in February 2017

7th Cir. Rejects ‘Anti-Tying’ Challenge to Software Company’s Required Use of Bank

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently held that a bank’s relationship with a software services company, under which the software services company required its customers to use the bank for the depositary services ancillary to the software, did not violate anti-tying provisions of the federal Bank Holding Company Act, at 12 U.S.C. § 1972. A copy of the opinion McGarry & McGarry, LLC v. Rabobank, N.A. is available at:  Link to Opinion. A bankruptcy trustee hired an administrative services company to provide a variety of services in a bankruptcy proceeding.  Among other things, the administrative services…

Mass. SJC Holds Omission of Post-Foreclosure Notice Did Not Void Foreclosure

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) recently affirmed a lower court’s ruling that a mortgagee’s failure to send a post-foreclosure notice required by Mass. Gen. Laws c. 244, § 15A does not render a foreclosure void. A copy of the opinion in Turra v. Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas is available at:  Link to Opinion. A mortgagee notified a borrower that he was in default under the terms of his mortgage.  The mortgagee subsequently foreclosed on the property and commenced a summary process action.  The borrower then filed suit against the mortgagee, and the mortgagee moved to dismiss the borrower’s…

9th Cir. Limits Scope of FDCPA ‘Enforcement of Security Interest’ Exception

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that a notice regarding overdue homeowners association (HOA) assessments contained language that overshadowed and conflicted with the homeowner’s federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act debt validation rights. Limiting the scope of its ruling in Ho v. ReconTrust Co., NA, 840 F.3d 618, 620 (9th Cir. 2016), the Court rejected the debt collector’s argument that in sending the notice regarding overdue HOA assessments, it merely sought to perfect a security interest and was therefore subject only to the limitations under 15 U.S.C. § 1692f(6). A copy of the opinion in…

9th Cir. Holds Company Willfully Violated FCRA by Including Liability Waiver in Disclosure Document

In a case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that a prospective employer violated the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act by including a liability waiver in the same document as the statutorily required disclosure notice for obtaining a job applicant’s consumer report. In so ruling, the Ninth Circuit held that the company’s conduct was “willful” as a matter of law, because the language of the statute clearly contradicted the company’s interpretation, and whether or not the company “actually believed that its interpretation was correct is immaterial.” A copy of the opinion in…