On May 10, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released new guidelines for employment background screening companies for compliance with certain consumer reporting agency requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The FTC’s guidelines are yet another indication that FCRA compliance is a top federal regulatory priority
I. General Application of the FCRA
The
On May 5, 2016, the CFPB announced proposed rules that would further restrict the ability of financial institutions to enter into mandatory arbitration clauses with consumers, including an outright ban on provisions that would prohibit consumers from pursuing class actions in court. The proposed rules do not forbid all mandatory arbitration clauses, however. Financial institutions
On May 3, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed a lower court’s rejection of class certification in Sandusky Wellness Ctr., LLC v. Medtox Scientific, Inc., a case brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) relating to junk faxes sent by a lead testing company. In its opinion, the
In Chen v. Allstate Insurance Co., the Ninth Circuit became one of the first courts to address a significant question left open by the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Campbell-Ewald. Specifically, the Ninth Circuit considered whether a defendant could moot a plaintiff’s class claims by making an offer of judgment for complete relief,
A government enforcement action against Charter Communications, Inc. for alleged violations of federal and state telecommunications laws has mostly withstood the first legal challenge. As we previously reported, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed a federal lawsuit in October 2015 against Charter alleging violations of federal and state telemarketing and “do-not-call” laws. The lawsuit
Judge Beth Labson Freeman for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California recently joined numerous other courts across the country in staying a putative FCRA class action pending the outcome of the Supreme Court’s decision in Spokeo Inc. v. Robins.
The underlying action in the California court challenged the defendant’s
On March 16, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced a $7.4 million settlement with two national auto lenders, American Credit Acceptance LLC (“ACA”) and Westlake Services LLC (“Westlake”). The settlement resolves claims against the lenders that they charged excessive interest rates on subprime automotive loans. ACA settled for $1.7 million, and Westlake for $5.7 million.
A proposed class action against Dave & Buster’s Inc., accusing the restaurant and entertainment chain of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act by using background checks to make adverse employment decisions without sharing the results with employees or applicants, was dismissed with prejudice after the parties submitted a joint stipulation for dismissal. The suit was
House Democrats have joined an effort to ensure that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (“TCPA”) applies to calls to collect government-backed debt. We previously reported that on November 4, 2015, Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the Help Americans Never Get Unwanted Phone calls Act of 2015, also known as the
In Lee v. Dollar Thrifty Auto. Group, Inc., the plaintiffs brought a class action lawsuit alleging multiple violations of the employment background check provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”). Specifically, the plaintiffs claimed that the defendants failed to provide them with disclosures properly informing them that a background check would be