Photo of Michael E. Lacy

Michael heads the firm’s Consumer Financial Services practice, and handles class actions and high-stakes consumer litigation on a nationwide basis. He represents banks, mortgage servicers, debt buyers and collectors, and lenders against claims under consumer protection statutes, including the FCRA, TCPA, RESPA, RICO, and state UDAP laws. He has significant experience litigating and trying corporate governance disputes, including shareholder derivative claims, corporate dissolution cases, and corporate divorce matters. Michael also represents public utility companies in litigation and regulatory matters, including condemnation and land use cases.

On October 30, the American Bankers Association (“ABA”) filed a letter opposing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s plan, under the Paperwork Reduction Act, to conduct a nationwide web-based survey of 8,000 individuals as part of the Bureau’s study of overdraft protection services.  The ABA urged the CFPB to re-submit its proposed plan with a draft

The CFPB will hold a Community Bank Advisory Counsel meeting with Richard Cordray on Wednesday, September 30, from 3:004:00 p.m.  The meeting will be held in the Second Floor Auditorium of the Bureau’s offices, located at 1275 First Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002.

The topics to be discussed with the Director include

On September 10, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray refused an appeal by members of Florida’s congressional delegation and the state’s top financial regulator to use Florida’s payday-lending rules as a model for planned federal regulation.  According to one source, Cordray indicated in a private meeting that he disagreed with certain aspects of Florida’s

On September 8, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced that it had ordered Comenity LLC to pay nearly $64 million in civil money penalties and restitution for alleged deceptive advertising and marketing of credit card add-ons, in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.  Comenity LLC manages credit card programs for several

On September 4, the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin won dismissal of a putative class action alleging that it printed expiration dates and more than the last five digits of credit cards on receipts at its retail stores.  In Jeremy Meyers, et al. v. Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin (Civil Action No. 1:15-cv-00445,

On August 7, a putative class action was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida by plaintiff Nataly Cano Lopez against Miami-Dade County for allegedly printing more than the allowed number of credit card digits on traffic ticket receipts.  The complaint alleges that Miami-Dade and its software provider printed more

On August 4, a New Jersey federal judge denied a motion to dismiss a putative class action against J. Crew Group involving allegations of Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act violations for printing more than the last five digits of consumers’ credit card numbers on sales receipts.  The named plaintiff alleged that J. Crew violated

On July 30, federal prosecutors in New Jersey filed criminal indictments against two California residents for stealing credit and debit card information from over 90,000 Michaels Stores locations in 19 states.  According to the indictments, the individuals skimmed the customers’ card account information for purposes of generating counterfeit bank cards and withdrawing cash from the

On July 14, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri granted United Collection Bureau’s motion for summary judgment in an individual action brought under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  Troutman Sanders served as counsel for UCB in this matter.  See Martin v. United Collection Bureau, Inc., No. 4:14cv804-JAR, 2015 U.S.

On July 31, Justice Anil Singh, a Manhattan Commercial Division judge, dismissed a $1 billion suit filed against various credit ratings agencies alleging fraud connected to the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities prior to the 2008 financial crisis.  According to the court, New York’s six-year statute of limitations barred the lawsuit, which was brought by