In a case involving the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and a group of asset securitization trusts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently held that the defendant trusts were "covered persons" under the federal Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), and rejected the defendant trusts’ arguments that the CFPB failed to ratify its action before the statute of limitations had run.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on March 6 signed into law Senate Bill 255, making New Hampshire the 14th state to enact a comprehensive consumer data privacy law, following California, Virginia, Colorado, Utah, Connecticut, Iowa, Indiana, Tennessee, Montana, Texas, Oregon, Delaware, and New Jersey. The law will go into effect Jan. 1, 2025.
The Supreme Court of Texas recently held that, when a lender or loan servicer rescinds its acceleration of a loan in compliance with Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.038, the rescission resets the statute of limitation even if it is combined with a notice of reacceleration.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Jan. 16 signed into law Senate Bill 332, making New Jersey the 13th state to enact a comprehensive consumer data privacy law, following California, Virginia, Colorado, Utah, Connecticut, Iowa, Indiana, Tennessee, Montana, Texas, Oregon and Delaware. The law will go into effect Jan. 16, 2025.
A look back at bankruptcy trends and litigation in 2023 reveals a spike in bankruptcy filings driven by economic factors and fallout from the pandemic while in upper courts several interesting cases were decided involving proofs of claim, stay violations, and discharge issues.
The upward trend in data privacy legislation continued in 2023. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, “[a]t least 40 states and Puerto Rico introduced or considered at least 350 consumer privacy bills in 2023,” a significant increase from the 200 bills in 2022.
A new law in New York, which prohibits the furnishing of medical debt to a consumer reporting agency and could create compliance concerns for the debt collection industry, came into effect on Dec. 13. The text of the Fair Medical Debt Reporting Act (FMDRA) can be found here.
The California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, recently held two borrowers’ allegations that their lender was not properly licensed were insufficient to establish an actual economic injury, necessary for standing under California Business and Professions Code section 17200, and that there was no private right of action under California Financial Code sections 22100 and 22751.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently upheld the dismissal of a putative class action challenging an advertised discount as supposedly deceptive. In so ruling, the Eighth Circuit held that the named plaintiff's allegations failed to meet the "ascertainable loss" requirement under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently held that a trial court's denial of a motion for class certification was an abuse of discretion because the trial court’s analysis of Rule 23(b)(3)’s predominance requirement was based on its erroneous interpretation of the second option in section 1681n(a)(1)(A) of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act as requiring a showing of actual damages.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Nov. 16 released its annual report regarding its activities taken in 2023 to administer the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, spotlighting, among other topics, the collection of medical debt.
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced approval of an amendment to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act Safeguards Rule to require nonbank financial institutions to report to the FTC the unauthorized acquisition of unencrypted customer information involving at least 500 consumers (a “notification event”).