On April 27, 2015, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Spokeo Inc. v. Robins, a case which could have wide-ranging implications for lawsuits, including class actions, against businesses under a number of consumer protection statutes.
In a case that the Supreme Court will hear and decide in its next term, the Court will
Authored by Alexandria J. Reyes and Benjamin R. Carlsen
Two federal district courts have dismissed lawsuits filed against debt collectors, holding that filing proofs of claim in a bankruptcy case on debt subject to a statute of limitations defense is not actionable under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
On April 23, the Federal Trade Commission and the Office of the New York Attorney General announced they will host a “dialogue” to discuss consumer protection issues with the debt collection industry, including recent enforcement actions, consumer complaints about debt collection practices, and compliance issues.
The first “Debt Collection Dialogue” in Buffalo, New York will
A New York federal judge on April 17 approved a group of former Gawker Media LLC interns’ proposed revised plan to notify potential class members of their rights to opt out of a proposed collective action alleging unpaid wages through social media. The same Court had previously rejected a social media campaign as being overbroad
Advertising agency Campbell-Ewald Co. began sending text messages through its subcontractor, MindMatic LLC, in 2006 as part of a Navy-approved effort to tap new technologies in recruitment campaigns, the company says. Among the recipients of the message, which began with “Destined for something big? Do it in the Navy,” was the plaintiff who said he
Passed by a vote of 47-3, the Stop Credit Discrimination in Employment Act bans employers in New York City from using potential employees’ credit histories in making employment decisions. The bill amends the city’s Human Rights Law to make it an unlawful discriminatory practice to request or use an applicant’s consumer credit history in making
In Sweet v. LinkedIn Corporation, a number of job applicants sued the social networking service for alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act based on LinkedIn’s “Reference Search” function. The Court dismissed the complaint at the pleadings stage, holding that the reports were not “consumer reports” and that LinkedIn was not a “consumer
On April 9, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered that three putative nationwide class actions against Michaels Stores Inc. be centralized in New Jersey. The actions accuse Michaels Stores of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) by failing to properly notify job applicants that the company would access their credit reports.
Federal
On April 17, Tom Pahl, managing regulatory counsel for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Office of Regulations, spoke at ACA International’s Washington Insights Conference about the CFPB’s debt collection rulemaking. According to Pahl, the CFPB currently is focusing on four debt collection related topics for its proposed rulemaking:
On April 13, Judge Beth Phillips, a federal judge in the Western District of Missouri, granted summary judgment in favor of Credit World Services, Inc. (“CWS”) in a case filed by a consumer that owed a debt to CWS (full opinion found here). In the lawsuit, Plaintiff alleges that CWS violated the Fair