Starbucks Corp. has been sued in a proposed class action in the Northern District of Georgia for alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act with its employment application process. Plaintiff Kevin Wills claims Starbucks rejected job applicants based on consumer reports without first providing a copy of the reports to the applicants and notifying
West Virginia Federal Court Preliminarily Approves Nearly $30M TCPA Class Action Settlement
In re Monitronics International, Inc., pending in the Northern District of West Virginia, is a consolidated class action lawsuit brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. After years of contentious litigation, this past week the Court preliminarily approved a class action settlement of $28 million. This significant settlement serves as another example of the high
Bill to Cap FCRA Liability Gets Hearing Before Congressional Subcommittee
This past May, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) introduced H.R. 2359, the FCRA Liability Harmonization Act, which would cap class action damages in Fair Credit Reporting Act claims at $500,000 or one percent of the defendant’s net worth, whichever is less, and eliminate punitive damages. Such changes would align the Fair Credit Reporting Act with numerous
Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of FACTA Class Action Against Donna Karan for Lack of Standing
On September 20, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Katz v. The Donna Karan Company, LLC, affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of a Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act putative class action for failure to establish a concrete injury sufficient to maintain Article III standing to bring suit.
As we previously reported,
CFPB Issues First No-Action Letter to Online Lender Using Alternative Data
On Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “Bureau”) issued its first no-action letter to Upstart Network, Inc., an online lender. The no-action letter green-lights the lender’s use of alternative data in marketing and pricing decisions. In exchange, Upstart will report lending and compliance information to the CFPB.
UPSTART’S MODEL
California-based Upstart provides an
Federal Appellate Court Rejects Attorneys’ Fees-Only Class Action Settlement
In January 2013, a teenager in Australia posted a photo online showing that his “footlong” Subway sandwich was in fact only 11 inches, setting off a viral storm of consumers discovering their “footlong” sandwiches were similarly not as large as advertised. That spawned a number of class action lawsuits in America accusing Subway’s franchisor, Doctor’s
NY and NJ Render Conflicting FDCPA Decisions Involving Credit Repair Companies
Two recent decisions from the Southern District of New York and the District of New Jersey have expressly disagreed about a credit repair company’s dispute of a debt on behalf of a consumer in two Fair Debt Collection Practices Act cases.
In Taylor-Burns v. AR Resources, Inc., plaintiff Tonya Taylor-Burns alleged that the debt
Federal District Court Sanctions CFPB for Failing to Provide Knowledgeable Deposition Witness
On August 25, 2017, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia entered an order granting multiple Defendants’ consolidated motion for sanctions against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Defendants’ Rule 37 motion alleged the CFPB failed to produce a knowledgeable deposition witness and also failed to follow the Court’s various orders to
CFPB Shuts Down Credit Repair Company for Charging Illegal Fees
A California district court approved a settlement between Prime Marketing Holdings LLC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, whereby Prime Marketing agreed to pay $150,000 and be banned from offering credit repair services. The settlement was a result of the CFPB’s September 2016 suit against Prime Marketing for allegedly misleading consumers and charging
11th Circuit Rules That Consent Under TCPA Can Be Partially Revoked
The Eleventh Circuit ruled in Schweitzer v. Comenity Bank that a consumer can verbally revoke consent to be called on her cell phone using an automatic telephone dialing system “in the morning and during the work day.” As a result, the district court improperly granted summary judgment to the bank because a jury could find