Earlier this week, the Fourth Circuit struck down a provision of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) that exempted government-backed debts from the statute’s prohibition on automated calls to cellular telephones. According to the Court in American Association of Political Consultants, Inc., et al v. FCC, the debt-collection exemption does not pass strict scrutiny
The Eastern District of Pennsylvania concluded that an admitted professional litigant stated a claim under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act when he received the defendant’s telemarketing calls on his cell phone. The determinative factor was lack of allegations and evidence that the plaintiff used the phone for the sole purpose of bringing TCPA lawsuits. A
On April 10, Priority Payout Corporation, a payment processing company and the successor of InterBill Ltd., agreed to settle charges with the Federal Trade Commission regarding violations of a 2009 Final Judgment and Order for Permanent Injunction and Other Equitable Relief (the “2009 Order”). The 2019 settlement with the FTC bans
On April 24, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative will host the inaugural “Fintech and the Future of Banking” conference in Arlington, Virginia.
The conference, headlined by speakers Jelena McWilliams, Chairman of the FDIC, and Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the United States
On April 11, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim of the Northern District of California issued a two-page order vacating judgment and final approval of a class action settlement based upon the parties’ failure to send correct notices to more than 300 class members. See Tyler Smith et al. v. Pacific Personnel Services Inc., No.
The Northern District of Illinois recently held that, under the facts of this particular case, the “bona fide error” defense is a question of fact for a jury to decide and could not be decided on summary judgment.
Ferris v. Convergent Outsourcing Inc. involves a Fair Debt Collection P
On February 22, the Federal Trade Commission published a final decision in its investigation and enforcement action against online lender Social Finance, Inc. (“SoFi”). The action concerned the FTC’s allegation that SoFi made false statements in its advertising regarding the amount student loan borrowers could save by refinancing with SoFi.
According to the FTC, SoFi
On March 19, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled in favor of a defendant debt collector because the plaintiff failed to submit extrinsic evidence showing an unsophisticated consumer would find the letter at issue to be misleading, false, or deceptive.
In Lemke v. Escallate, LLC, No. 1:17-cv-5234, 2019
The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey recently dismissed a class action suit against a collection agency based on alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. In its opinion, which can be found here, the Court held that a single collection letter, which included two telephone numbers and an