On Oct. 8, S.737A was signed into New York law, “requiring debt collectors to inform debtors that written communications are available in large print format.” The legislation becomes effective Nov. 7, 2021.
The Maryland Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, recently held that judgments obtained by an unlicensed debt buyer were not void, and that the debtors' claims for unjust enrichment and money damages under the Maryland Consumer Protection Act (MCPA) and the Maryland Consumer Debt Collection Act (MCDCA) were subject to Maryland's general three-year statute of limitations.
The California Court of Appeal, Second District, recently granted a lender’s petition for a writ of mandate compelling the trial court to vacate its order granting the borrower’s petition to compel arbitration.
In a “hybrid wage-and-hour” action brought by mortgage loan officers (MLOs), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently: 1) reiterated its prior holding that “an FLSA opt-in collective action is not, by its nature, incompatible with a parallel state law Rule 23 opt-out class action”, and 2) held that the trial court should not have required a trial in the FLSA opt-in collective action before deciding Rule 23 class certification on the parallel state-law claims.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently affirmed a bankruptcy court’s grant of a debtor’s motion for summary judgment allowing the debtor to void a mortgage under the “strong arm” provision of the Bankruptcy Code.
The Illinois Appellate Court, First District, recently held that substitute service can be effected under the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure when the summons is left with an adult with a cognitive impairment.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, en banc, recently affirmed in part and reversed in part a trial court’s partial grant and partial denial of a bank’s motion to dismiss the City of Oakland’s claims under the federal Fair Housing Act.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently affirmed the dismissal of a putative class action challenging a bank's overdraft fees as usurious under the National Bank Act, 12 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. (NBA).
The Supreme Court of Illinois recently held that a homeowner’s insurance company could not deduct depreciation from reimbursements for labor costs from the actual cash value of a covered loss, because the policy at issue did not specifically and unambiguously allow the practice.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently affirmed lower court rulings that a bankrupt debtor was entitled to receive damages and attorneys’ fees for a creditor's violation of the automatic stay in bankruptcy.
The District of Columbia recently passed legislation to substantially revise its debt collection law on an emergency basis. The amended law became effective Sept. 23, 2021. DC’s debt collection law was first enacted in 1971 and the amendments not only make it more burdensome for debt collectors but also for most financial services companies and other businesses operating in the District who were not previously within the scope of the law.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently affirmed judgment in a debt collector’s favor against claims that its efforts to collect attorney’s fees incurred to collect a debt — including the fees incurred in collecting the attorney’s fees — violated the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.