October 2019

Showing its continuing regular focus on the background screening industry, on October 3, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a report, entitled Market Snapshot: Background Screening Reports. The report highlights the increased demand for background screenings by employers as well as consumer challenges that may arise from their use given the vast

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published its quarterly consumer credit trends report on September 25. In the Report, the CFPB gave an in-depth look at bankruptcy trends and the impact of filing for the period 2001-2018, which includes the enactment of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (“BAPCPA”) and the Great Recession.

The

Recently, the Ninth Circuit affirmed two court rulings denying Samsung’s motion to compel arbitration in Velasquez-Reyes v. Samsung Elecs. Am., and Samsung Elecs. Am. v. Ramirez. In the “shrink-wrap” context, the Ninth Circuit held that a consumer must be given adequate notice of an arbitration provision in order to expressly agree to

On September 17, a district court judge in the Eastern District of Kentucky granted in part and denied in part a defendant debt collector’s motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. Plaintiff Timothy Flook sued Mason, Schilling & Mason, Co., L.P.A, and one of its attorneys (collectively “MSM”), claiming that

Certified Credit & Collection Bureau (“CCCB”) sent a collection letter to Delia Rodriguez seeking payment of $29.88 for an unpaid medical debt. CCCB’s letter referred to the creditor as its “client” and did not explicitly state that the client was the creditor to whom the debt was owed.

Rodriguez brought a putative class action in

We are pleased to announce that Troutman Sanders attorney Sadia Mirza will be hosting a Celesq Webinar on October 21st at 2:00pm EDT, titled “Amendments to the CCPA: The More Things Change, The More Things Stay the Same.” Sadia will be discussing the scope of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), new rights afforded

On September 30, the District of Nevada dismissed a plaintiff’s class claim under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act but permitted her individual claim to proceed. In Whittum v. Acceptance Now West LLC, plaintiff Roxanne Whittum alleged that Acceptance Now placed multiple calls to her using an automatic telephone dialing system (“ATDS”)

The Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA), a trade association whose members include the three largest consumer reporting agencies (“CRAs”), recently filed a lawsuit in Maine seeking a declaratory judgment that two recently passed credit reporting laws are preempted by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Earlier this year, the Maine legislature passed

In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of claims brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act based on calls made to wrong numbers. A decision in the Northern District of Illinois indicates that such calls can also give rise to exposure under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act.

In Kayyal

Last week, a United States District Court in Washington rejected a proposed TCPA class settlement in part because the class definition included an impermissible characterization of the disputed term of art: automatic telephone dialing system (“ATDS”). A copy of the Order is available here

This TCPA class action involved allegations that the defendant made