The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently held that a defendant invoking jurisdiction under the federal Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d), must provide sufficient evidence to allow the court to determine – not speculate – that it was more likely than not that there were at least 100 class members and the aggregate amount in controversy exceeded $5 million. A copy of the opinion in Scott v. Cricket Communications, LLC is available at: Link to Opinion. Between July 2013 and March 2014, a consumer purchased two Samsung Galaxy S4 cell phones from the defendant…
Posts tagged as “Fourth Circuit”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently held that the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) does not apply to a mortgage loan obligation incurred while a borrower is a member of the military, even where he subsequently leaves and then later re-enlists in the military prior to a foreclosure sale. A copy of the opinion in Sibert v. Wells Fargo Bank, NA is available at: Link to Opinion. The borrower obtained a mortgage loan to purchase his home from the lender while he was serving in the U.S. Navy. After his discharge from the Navy, the borrower…
Relying on Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently vacated and remanded for dismissal a trial court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the plaintiff in an $11 million, 69,000 member class action under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., where the defendant credit reporting agency listed the name of a defunct credit card issuer instead of the name of the servicer as the source of information on the plaintiff’s credit report. In so ruling, the Fourth Circuit held that the…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that a creditor’s arbitration agreement contained unenforceable choice of law provisions rendering the entire agreement unenforceable. Accordingly, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the trial court’s order denying the creditor’s motion to compel arbitration. A copy of the opinion in James Dillon v. BMO Harris Bank, N.A. is available at: Link to Opinion. The borrower applied for and received a “payday loan” through the lender’s website. The lender was wholly owned by a Native American tribe. To complete the loan transaction, the borrower was required to sign an agreement containing a choice…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently held that “escrow funds, insurance proceeds, or miscellaneous proceeds” are protected by the anti-modification provisions for Chapter 13 bankruptcies as “incidental property” under the definition of “debtor’s principal residence” in the federal Bankruptcy Code. A copy of the opinion in In re Birmingham is available at: Link to Opinion. A debtor filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. One of the claims against the debtor was a mortgage loan secured by a deed of trust on the debtor’s primary residence. When the debtor filed his original Chapter 13 bankruptcy…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently confirmed that a law firm and its employees, who pursued foreclosure on behalf of creditors, were acting as “debt collectors” under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) when they pursued foreclosure proceedings against a borrower. In so ruling, the Court also confirmed that a servicer that does not also own the mortgage loan does not have a duty to provide notice of the sale and assignment of a loan to itself under the federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA) merely because it accepts the assignment of the deed…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently rejected a challenge to a class action settlement by a group of consumers objecting to the release of statutory and punitive damages claims – but not claims for actual damages – in exchange for non-monetary injunctive relief under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in approving the settlement or awarding attorney’s fees to class counsel. A copy of the opinion in Gregory Thomas Berry et al. v. LexisNexis Risk & Information Analytics Group Inc. et al. is available at: Link to…