On June 30, the Court of Appeals of New York answered questions certified from the Second Circuit regarding whether a New York City law imposing certain requirements on attorneys engaged in debt collection practices is preempted by state law.
Local Law 15, which was enacted in 2009, expanded an earlier definition of debt collection agencies
Effective, July 1, 2015, Georgia HB 328 creates protections to consumers similar to those found in the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
Specifically, the law amends Part 2 of Article 15 of Chapter 1 of Title 10 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, the “Fair Business Practices Act of 1975,” by adding a
As we discussed last year, the Federal Trade Commission announced in May 2014 that it settled charges against Asset Capital and Management Group for illegally extracting payments from consumers for credit card debt that it had purchased from creditors.
In addition to banning the defendants – which includes individuals behind the scheme, a network
Troutman Sanders LLP announced today that Jon S. Hubbard has rejoined the firm’s Financial Services Litigation practice as Of Counsel in the Richmond office. He returns to the firm from Capital One, where he was Assistant General Counsel and Director of Mortgage Litigation.
At Capital One, Hubbard represented the company on a national basis in
Effective July 1, the Georgia Governor’s Office of Consumer Protection is moving administratively to the Office of the Georgia Attorney General. At that point and thereafter, the office will be known as the Consumer Protection Unit (CPU) of the Law Department. According to its announcement concerning this move, the unit will continue to perform essentially
On June 25, 2015, a 5-4 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) permits discrimination claims brought under a disparate impact theory of liability. Justice Kennedy authored the majority opinion in the much-anticipated decision in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. – a
On June 18, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a consent order and announced an enforcement action against a company specializing in medical debt collection for mishandling consumer credit reporting disputes and preventing consumers from exercising important debt collection rights. The CFPB is ordering the company to provide over $5.4 million in relief to harmed
On June 18, 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) voted 3-2 to approve an order that promises to have major and negative impacts on companies who use modern telephone technology to text and call consumers.
The stark increase in the number of lawsuits that were filed under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) has been
On June 16, 2015, the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) released additional guidance related to its recently enacted debt collection regulations. The new clarifications supplement DFS’ initial set of “Frequently Asked Questions” released in February, with new guidance beginning at Question #17. DFS announced publication of the supplemental guidance during a “Debt
In In Touch Concepts, Inc. d/b/a ZCOM v. Cellco Partnership, the Second Circuit joined the Seventh Circuit in holding that a federal court retains subject matter jurisdiction over a case that had previously been removed to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”), even after the plaintiff amended the complaint to remove