On November 20, the CFPB once again released its latest rulemaking agenda update. The previous update, issued last May, extended debt collection rulemaking pre-rule activities from April 2015 until December 2015. This latest update extends debt collection pre-rule activities scheduled through February 2016.
In extending the pre-rulemaking period, the CFPB stated as follows:
The
On November 13, 2015, an administrative law judge dismissed the Federal Trade Commission’s action against LabMD, ruling the FTC failed to show that the laboratory’s alleged conduct caused or would cause harm to consumers. The decision represents a significant blow to the FTC and its ability to bring actions under the unfairness prong of Article
The Federal Trade Commission has announced the topics of the two panels at its upcoming Debt Collection Dialogue in Atlanta. Sam Olens of the Office of the Georgia Attorney General will co-host the event. Earlier Dialogues were held in Buffalo and Dallas. This is the third and final scheduled Dialogue.
The first panel in Atlanta,
On November 16, the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission released a memorandum of understanding designed to formalize their plans to coordinate consumer protection efforts.
The FCC is charged with regulating all interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable, while the FTC is primarily responsible for preventing unfair or
On November 13, a New York federal judge granted final approval to a $4.75 million settlement between background check company Sterling Infosystems, Inc. and a class of Dish Network, LLC satellite television installers.
The installers brought claims against Sterling for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) including that Sterling provided outdated information to
On November 10, a New Jersey debt collection law firm pressed the Third Circuit to reverse the district court’s ruling that a four-second review of a debt collection complaint does not constitute “meaningful attorney involvement.”
As we previously reported, in Bock v. Pressler & Pressler, LLP, the United States District Court for the
On October 2, President Obama announced a new executive order that prevents federal agencies from making job-applicants reveal they have a criminal record as part of his overall criminal justice reform effort. This “ban the box” initiative would prevent federal agencies from asking about an applicant’s criminal history at the initial application stage.
“It is
On November 4, 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), 47 State Attorneys General, and other state and local law enforcement authorities from around the country announced the first coordinated federal-state enforcement initiative targeting deceptive and abusive debt collection practices. The initiative, named Operation Collection Protection, aims to crackdown on collectors who use illegal tactics
On October 29, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced the settlement of an enforcement action against two affiliated consumer reporting agencies under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) based on these companies’ employment background screening practices. The consent order requires these background screeners to pay a total of $13 million in penalties and
On November 2, 2015, a sharply divided Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, where it considered whether Congress may confer Article III standing by authorizing a private right of action based on the violation of a federal statute alone, despite a plaintiff having suffered no concrete