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Massie helps businesses resolve complex, high-stakes disputes. Applying significant courtroom experience and knowledge of her clients’ industry sectors, she creates strategies that help her clients achieve their goals.

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:

  1. Communication issues;
  2. Data integrity and information issues;

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

A dispute over the scheduling of a settlement conference ended with a California federal judge ordering a law firm and a pro se plaintiff to explain why they should not be disciplined for missing a deadline set by the court.

U.S. District Judge John F. Walter gave law firm Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it will be hosting a field hearing in Richmond, Virginia on payday lending.  The hearing will take place on March 26 at 12:00 noon.

The hearing will feature remarks from CFPB Director Richard Cordray, as well as testimony from consumer groups, industry representatives, and members of the public.

The Georgia Governor’s Office of Consumer Protection (“GOCP”) issued a statement on March 5, announcing a $13 million settlement with RSB Equity Group, LLC (“RSB”) and its principal, Roy Mullman.  The settlement resolved charges that the company committed multiple violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act.  More

On January 13, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the District Court’s grant of class certification in a case where plaintiffs allege violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  In Powers v. Credit Management Services, the defendant filed standard-form complaints and discovery requests against the plaintiffs in state court to collect past

On December 8, the Southern District of Indiana released a decision relating to the interplay between the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and bankruptcy.  In Grandidier v. Quantum3 Group, LLC, the District Court denied a motion to dismiss a plaintiff’s complaint relating to the supposed filing of a time-barred proof of claim in the

In Powell v. Palisades Acquisition XVI, LLC, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the filing of an assignment of judgment in a debt collection action qualifies as debt collection activity that triggers the requirements of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”).  In so holding, the Fourth Circuit overturned the decision of

On Wednesday, December 3, 2014, New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, announced new regulations aimed at “protect[ing] consumers against abusive and deceptive debt collection practices.”  The press release issued by Governor Cuomo can be found here.

These regulations come from the New York Department of Financial Services and were first proposed in July 2013 and

On November 25, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it plans to push back three key rulemakings until next year.  These rulemakings center on overdraft protection, payday lending, and debt collection.  The agenda released by the CFPB stated that it would issue proposals on these issues in the first seven months of 2015.  This