The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio issued its highly anticipated ruling on July 25 in a CFPB enforcement action against an Ohio debt collection law firm, concluding that the firm’s attorneys were “meaningfully involved” in the collections process and entering judgment in favor of the law firm. The decision followed an advisory jury’s verdict, which found the law firm’s pre-suit collection letters contained “false, deceptive, or misleading representations or means in connection with the collection of a debt” while rejecting a claim that the firm’s attorneys were not meaningfully involved in the debt collection process in…
Posts published by “Shannon P. Miller”
Shannon P. Miller is a principal attorney at Maurice Wutscher LLP, where he focuses his practice on various aspects of financial services law with an emphasis on consumer financial services litigation. He has successfully represented healthcare and financial institutions and law firms across the country for claims filed under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, and various state consumer protection statutes. For more information, see https://mauricewutscher.com/attorneys/shannon-p-miller/
In a follow up to an advisory jury’s verdict, finding that a law firm’s pre-suit collection letters contained “false, deceptive, or misleading representations or means in connection with the collection of a debt” while rejecting a claim that the firm’s attorneys were not meaningfully involved in the debt collection process in violation of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the accused law firm filed its proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law on June 29, arguing that if their legal services were good enough for Richard Cordray when he held the office of Attorney General of the State…
In a follow-up to an advisory jury’s verdict, finding that a law firm’s pre-suit collection letters contained “false, deceptive, or misleading representations or means in connection with the collection of a debt” while rejecting a claim that the firm’s attorneys were not meaningfully involved in the debt collection process in violation of the FDCPA, the CFPB filed its proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law on June 15, suggesting that the jury’s verdict was misguided. Instead, the CFPB asserted that the applicable facts and law support a conclusion that attorneys with the law firm were in fact not “meaningfully…
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania recently held that a borrower is not entitled to attorney’s fees under the Pennsylvania Loan Interest Law (“Act 6”) relating to an affirmative defense raised in a mortgage foreclosure action that was subsequently discontinued without prejudice. A copy of the opinion in Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC v. Lindsay is available at: Link to Opinion. The borrower defaulted on his mortgage loan, and the mortgagee filed a foreclosure action. Thereafter, the borrower answered the foreclosure complaint and asserted as an affirmative defense an alleged violation of § 403(a) of Act 6, which, according to the Court, is an “extensive…
An advisory jury, empaneled pursuant to Federal Rule 39(c)(1), recently returned an inconsistent verdict after trial in an action brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last year challenging that attorneys of a law firm specializing in the collection of debts were not “meaningfully involved” in collection activities engaged in by the firm in violation of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. A copy of the complaint in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., L.P.A. is available at: Link to Complaint. The jury determined that the law firm’s pre-suit collection letters contained “false, deceptive, or misleading representations or…
In an unpublished ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently reversed the dismissal of consolidated class actions arising from a data breach, holding that the plaintiffs had Article III standing to pursue certain tort claims and that the district court had erred in dismissing a federal Fair Credit Reporting Act claim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. A copy of the opinion in Galaria v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company is available at: Link to Opinion. The plaintiffs brought class actions against an insurance company alleging violations of the FCRA and common law tort claims for invasion of…
Providing a putative class representative with complete relief did not moot his individual and class demand for declaratory and injunctive relief under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA) according to a recent decision from a divided panel of Florida’s First District Court of Appeal. In Ahearn v. Mayo Clinic, 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 16716 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1st Dist. Nov. 6, 2015), Shawn Ahearn received emergency medical treatment from the Mayo Clinic in September 2013. Lacking health insurance for the medical care, he received a bill for $5,953.26. After paying $330 of the bill, Ahearn found fault with…