On April 14, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the decision of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California finding that a FINRA registered investment banker’s statutory employment discrimination and civil rights claims were not subject to arbitration. In reversing, the Ninth Circuit held that the express
On April 16, 2021, a bill was introduced in the Senate and House that would restrict securities industry broker-dealers and other FINRA registered firms from imposing mandatory arbitration for customer disputes or contractually limiting a customer’s ability to bring suit on a class or consolidated basis.
Named the “Investor Choice Act” (the “Bill”), the Bill
Last March we reported that, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. (FINRA) administratively postponed in-person arbitration and mediation proceedings, and held such proceedings remotely via telephone or Zoom.
However, given recent developments in the country’s reopening from the pandemic, FINRA announced that it will re-open 62 of its
In Jefferies LLC v Gegenheimer, the Second Circuit reminded prospective FINRA arbitration litigants of the high burden in court to vacate an unsatisfactory arbitration award issued by a panel of arbitrators.
In this matter, the petitioner was a FINRA-member investment bank and respondent was an individually licensed investment banker. The dispute arose out of
In Kinnick v. Med-1 Solutions LLC, an Indiana district court granted partial summary judgment for the defendant in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) case. In its holding, the court emphasized that requesting that collection communications cease before the debt collector has active accounts for collection is insufficient to sustain a claim under
In Teitelbaum v. I.C. Sys., a New York district court granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) case. In its holding, the court emphasized that the least sophisticated consumer standard may not be invoked to support the proposition that a collection letter is ambiguous in situations where
In Uvaldo v. Germain Law Office PLC, an Arizona District Court denied a plaintiff’s motion for partial judgment on the pleadings in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case. In its holding, the court emphasized that the expectation that a car purchaser would read a collection letter and know that he/she is a “consumer”
In Hearn v. Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court holding denying the defendant’s motion to compel arbitration regarding the plaintiff’s Fair Credit Reporting Act claim and remanded the matter for further proceedings.
In that case, the plaintiff obtained services from the defendant in 2016, and signed
In Milburn v. SN Servicing, LLC, a district court in the Ninth Circuit denied a defendant’s motion for summary judgment regarding the plaintiffs’ allegations that the defendant violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Oregon Unlawful Debt Collection Practices Act in its mortgage servicing activity. In denying summary judgment, this decision serves as
In O’Toole v. Bob Roache Law, a Seventh Circuit District Court in Indiana granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) case for lack of standing. In its holding, the court emphasized that allegations of “annoyance or confusion” without allegations of detrimental action taken as a result of the