On August 23, a federal judge in Illinois ruled that a consumer who had multiple accounts with different creditors assigned to the same collection agency did not effectively revoke consent for all accounts merely by revoking consent for one. Specifically, the Court said that when a consumer told a collection agency to stop calling him
11th Circuit Applies Totality-of-the-Circumstance Analysis to Judicial Estoppel
On September 18, in an en banc review, the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit overruled, in part, seminal cases Barger v. City of Cartersville, 348 F.3d 1289 (11th Cir. 2003) and Burnes v. Pemco Aeroplex, Inc., 291 F.3d 1282 (11th Cir. 2002), adopting a totality-of-the-circumstances analysis when facing questions of judicial
District Court Denies Motion to Strike in FCRA Background Check Class Action
In Fosbrink v. Area Wide Protective, Inc., William Fosbrink sued defendant Area Wide Protective in a class action complaint for allegedly violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s provisions regarding employment background checks. According to Fosbrink, Area Wide violated the FCRA in three ways: (1) it failed to provide him with a stand-alone disclosure informing
Plaintiff’s Counsel Ordered to Pay Defendant’s Fees and Costs in Bad Faith FDCPA Action
On September 20, a United States District judge for the Northern District of California granted defendant United Recovery System’s motion for attorneys’ fees and costs arising from its successful defense of a lawsuit based on alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the California Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, also known as
Starbucks Hit with FCRA Class Action
Starbucks Corp. has been sued in a proposed class action in the Northern District of Georgia for alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act with its employment application process. Plaintiff Kevin Wills claims Starbucks rejected job applicants based on consumer reports without first providing a copy of the reports to the applicants and notifying
NYDFS Directed to Regulate Consumer Reporting Agencies
On September 18, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a press release directing the New York Department of Financial Services to impose new rules on consumer reporting agencies (“CRAs”). The new regulation would require CRAs to register with New York for the first time and comply with the state’s cybersecurity standard. The standard – which
West Virginia Federal Court Preliminarily Approves Nearly $30M TCPA Class Action Settlement
In re Monitronics International, Inc., pending in the Northern District of West Virginia, is a consolidated class action lawsuit brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. After years of contentious litigation, this past week the Court preliminarily approved a class action settlement of $28 million. This significant settlement serves as another example of the high
FTC Says Its Focus Must Be on Instances of Real Harm to Consumers
In a September 19 speech at the Federal Communications Bar Association in Washington, FTC Acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen stated that the Commission should focus on addressing instances of “substantial consumer injury” in deciding which cases to pursue. Echoing (intentionally or not) the language of the Supreme Court’s foundational decision in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins
Bill to Cap FCRA Liability Gets Hearing Before Congressional Subcommittee
This past May, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) introduced H.R. 2359, the FCRA Liability Harmonization Act, which would cap class action damages in Fair Credit Reporting Act claims at $500,000 or one percent of the defendant’s net worth, whichever is less, and eliminate punitive damages. Such changes would align the Fair Credit Reporting Act with numerous
Join Us at the National Association of Professional Background Screeners Annual Conference
We are pleased to announce that Troutman Sanders partners David Anthony, Cindy Hanson, and Tim St. George will be featured speakers at the upcoming National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS) Annual Conference, to be held in Orlando, Florida on September 17-19, 2017.
On Tuesday, September 19, David, Cindy and Tim will speak on a