The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida recently relied on an Eleventh Circuit prohibition against “shotgun pleadings” to dismiss with prejudice a pro se plaintiff’s claims. In Dressler v. United States Department of Education, plaintiff Sandra Dressler brought a ten-count complaint against nine defendants. She alleged violations of the Fair Credit
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
On April 12, the United States District Court for the Southern District of California upheld a magistrate judge’s discovery order requiring the production of settlement agreements containing confidentiality provisions.
In Kenneth J. Moser v. Health Insurance Innovations, Inc., consumer plaintiff Kenneth Moser brought putative class action claims against Health Insurance Innovations (“HIIQ”)
A federal court in Wisconsin recently granted a motion for attorneys’ fees in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case based on the defendant’s “aggressive litigation tactics.” The case is Michael J. Broome v. Kohn Law Firm, S.C., et al.
Consumer plaintiff Michael Broome claimed the defendants violated the FDCPA by filing a debt-collection lawsuit
Background
In Varela v. Lamps Plus, Inc.,
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
In Henderson v. United Student Aid Funds, Inc., the Ninth Circuit recently reversed a decision by the District Court for the Southern District of California holding that a lender could not be held vicariously liable for the actions of the debt collection companies that had been hired by its loan servicer.
The plaintiff in Henderson
This week the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a policy change for the agency’s Civil Investigative Demands, or “CIDs.”
The CFPB is authorized by statute to issue CIDs. These updated policy changes address what may be included in those CIDs, specifically in the “notification of purpose” section. The CFPB has stated that going forward CIDs
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