On April 27, 2015, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Spokeo Inc. v. Robins to address the issue of whether Congress may confer Article III standing on a plaintiff who suffers no concrete harm by simply authorizing a private right of action based on the violation of a federal statute alone. Although the
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission jointly filed an amicus brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Bock v. Pressler & Pressler, LLP. In the case, a U.S. district court previously ruled that a debt collection law firm violated the Fair Debt Collection
On August 6, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a federal district court decision invalidating South Carolina’s statute banning automated calls for commercial or political purposes. The statute, enacted in 1991, restricted unsolicited automated calls “made for consumer, political, or other purposes.” All qualifying automated calls were prohibited with
The FTC announced the federal and state regulators attending its second “Debt Collection Dialogue” in Dallas will be answering questions from industry members and others who attend the event, including questions about how regulatory enforcement actions are investigated and pursued.
Questions for the FTC and panelists may be submitted by email to questions-debtcollectiondialogue-dallas@ftc.gov,
On August 11, the Federal Communications Commission handed down a $2.96 million fine against Travel Club Marketing Inc., related entities, and owner Olen Miller (collectively “Travel Club”), the largest fine in FCC history related to autodialed calls. The fine stems from allegations that the companies violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act in their telemarketing efforts,
The next “Debt Collection Dialogue” with the Federal Trade Commission is scheduled to occur in Dallas on September 29, 2015. It is the second of three such planned events. Representatives will discuss enforcement actions, consumer complaints, compliance issues, industry best practices, and the process for regulatory enforcement investigations and actions. The panel will include Commission
In Tierney v. Advocate Health & Hosps. Corp. (No. 14-3168, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 13966 (Aug. 10, 2015)), the Seventh Circuit recently upheld a district court’s dismissal of a proposed class action accusing a hospital of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act by failing to secure health data maintained on four desktop computers that
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sent a questionnaire with almost 60 questions to randomly selected debt collectors and service providers as part of its potential rulemaking regarding debt collection, a process that began almost two years ago.
The CFPB received 23,000 comments in response to its Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) for debt collectors,
On August 6, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a defendant’s offer of full relief does not render a plaintiff’s claims moot. The case, Chapman v. First Index, Inc. (No. 14-2773, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 13767 (7th Cir. 2015)), was a junk fax case brought pursuant to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act
On August 7, a putative class action was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida by plaintiff Nataly Cano Lopez against Miami-Dade County for allegedly printing more than the allowed number of credit card digits on traffic ticket receipts. The complaint alleges that Miami-Dade and its software provider printed more