In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States recently held that under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), an ambiguous agreement cannot provide the necessary contractual basis for concluding that the parties agreed to submit to class arbitration. Accordingly, the contrary ruling of the Ninth Circuit was reversed and the matter was remanded to the trial court for further proceedings. A copy of the opinion in Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela is available at: Link to Opinion. The defendant company sells light fixtures and related products. In 2016, a hacker impersonating a company official tricked a company employee into…
Posts published in April 2019
On March 26, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice approved House Bill 3143 which amends the state’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act. First, current law provides that a Regulated Consumer Lender License is required for: Making regulated consumer loans; or Taking assignments of or undertaking direct collection of payments from or enforcement of rights against consumers arising from regulated consumer loans (W. Va. Code § 46A-4-101). The amendment excludes from licensing under this section collection agencies that are licensed pursuant to the West Virginia Collection Agency Act. Second, the bill increases the dollar thresholds for certain loans to which maximum finance…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision in Americold Realty Trust v. ConAgra Foods, Inc. did not upset the Supreme Court’s prior holding in Navarro Ass’n v. Lee, and that “when a trustee files a lawsuit or is sued in her own name her citizenship is all that matters for diversity purposes.” Accordingly, the Ninth Circuit held that the trial court properly exercised its jurisdiction over the matter where the bank — acting as trustee — was sued in its own name, and along with the other named…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently held that a trial court lacked jurisdiction over a claim for violation of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act involving a student loan administered by the U.S. Department of Education because Congress did not waive sovereign immunity for suits under FCRA. A copy of the opinion in Robinson v. U.S. Department of Education is available at: Link to Opinion. This appeal arose from the plaintiff’s claim that the government agency responsible for administering the federal student loan program violated FCRA, 15 U.S.C. § 1681, et seq. The plaintiff alleged that the government…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently held that a mortgage servicer only had to comply with the federal Real Estate Settlement Procedure Act (RESPA) requirements regarding loss mitigation applications once when the servicer had already provided the same reasons for the denial of a loan modification in response to a prior loss mitigation application. A copy of the opinion in Germain v. US Bank National Association is available at: Link to Opinion. In 2005, a borrower executed a deed of trust in favor of a lender to refinance his home. In 2012, the servicer began servicing the…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently ruled that an offer to “resolve” a debt without disclosing its time-barred status may be deceptive or misleading under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) even in the absence of an express threat of litigation. A copy of the opinion in Holzman v. Malcolm S. Gerald & Assocs., Inc. is available at: Link to Opinion. The letter at issue stated the debt collector wanted to “resolve” the consumer’s account by accepting a reduced amount by a specific date. The consumer filed a lawsuit alleging the letter was false and misleading in…
The Court of Appeal for the Fourth District of California recently held that a trustee conducting a non-judicial foreclosure is not subject to tort liability unless it violated duties established by the deed of trust and governing statutes, or if the trustee has effectively taken on a different or modified duty by its actions. A copy of the opinion in Citrus El Dorado, LLC v. Chicago Title Company is available at: Link to Opinion. A commercial developer purchased real property and obtained a loan to fund construction. The loan was secured by a deed of trust on the property. The lender…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently reversed a summary judgment award in favor of a student loan buyer, holding that triable issues of fact existed as to whether it had actual knowledge of or willfully ignored and thereby ratified the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) violations of the debt collectors contracted by the owner’s servicer. A copy of the opinion in Henderson v. United Student Aid Funds is available at: Link to Opinion. The plaintiff received student loans through a federal program under which the owner of the loans “guarantees student loans made by private lenders and…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that a government sponsored enterprise (“GSE”) that licensed underwriting software to lenders was not a consumer reporting agency under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. In so ruling, the Ninth Circuit determined that the GSE did not assemble or evaluate consumer information to furnish consumer reports to third parties. Instead, the GSE merely provided software to allow lenders to assemble or evaluate such information. A copy of the opinion in Zabriskie v. Federal National Mortgage Association is available at: Link to Opinion. The plaintiffs had a short sale after defaulting…
The Supreme Court of the United States recently vacated the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s approval of a class action settlement against a prominent technology company claiming violations of the Stored Communications Act. In so doing, the Supreme Court concluded that significant questions regarding the class plaintiffs’ Article III standing had not yet been adequately considered by the lower courts following its ruling in Spokeo v. Robins, 578 U.S. ___ , and remanded for consideration of whether any of the named plaintiffs has alleged SCA violations that are sufficiently concrete and particularized to support standing in federal…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently affirmed dismissal of a putative class action lawsuit that challenged the company’s arbitration clause. The Court rejected the named plaintiff’s primary argument that the arbitration clause’s arbitration-fee-splitting arrangement was unconscionable and unenforceable, because the trial court was allowed to consider the defendant’s offer to pay for the full costs of arbitration, thus rendering the clause enforceable under Massachusetts’ Wage Act, because the potential costs of arbitration were less than the cost of potential recovery. A copy of the opinion in Bekele v. Lyft, Inc. is available at: Link to Opinion. In…