On January 11, 2021, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh released a report detailing the state’s recommendations to help Maryland residents recover from the severe impacts of COVID-19. The report was issued by the COVID-19 Access to Justice Task Force and outlined a holistic approach by making 59 legislative and policy recommendations. The Access to Justice
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will soon fall under the leadership of an aggressive consumer advocate. On January 18, President-elect Joe Biden announced that he will nominate current Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Rohit Chopra to be the next director of the agency.
A CFPB veteran, Chopra holds a B.A. from Harvard and an
On December 18, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana denied a debt collector’s motion for summary judgment, suggesting that an open question of whether a telephone system had the capacity to place automatic calls might support a claim under the Telephone Consumer Practices Act (“TCPA”), even if that functionality had
Like most industries today, Consumer Finance Services businesses are being significantly impacted by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Troutman Pepper has developed a dedicated COVID-19 Resource Center to guide clients through this unprecedented global health challenge. We regularly update this site with COVID-19 news and developments, recommendations from leading health organizations, and tools that businesses can
In Russell v. Law, Judge Van Bokkelen, of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, granted summary judgment, in part, to Russell Friend (“Plaintiff”)– alleging Taylor Law, PLLC (“Defendant”) contacted Plaintiff continually in attempts to collect debt after Plaintiff’s request that Defendant cease contact, in violation of the Fair Debt
In Golden v. Benjamin, Judge Schroeder, of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, denied Higgins Benjamin, PLCC’s (“Higgins”) motion to dismiss a class action claim brought by Mark and Geneva Golden under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. In the Complaint, Plaintiffs alleged an FDCPA claim for failure
A group of state attorneys general, led by New York A.G. Letitia James, are attempting to stop the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) from implementing its new True Lender Rule that is now in effect. The state attorneys general allege that by implementing the Rule, the OCC is once again fostering
In a final act of his tenure, Brian Brooks, the acting Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on January 14 finalized a rule to ensure “fair access to banking services provided by large national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign bank organizations.” Brooks announced that he would be stepping down from
On December 30, 2020, Judge Richard J. Leon on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia entered an Order in PayPal, Inc. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, et al., No. 19-3700-RJL, 2020 WL 7773392 (D.D.C. Dec. 30, 2020) invalidating two provisions of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“the CFPB” or “Bureau”)’s “Prepaid
In True Health Chiropractic Inc., et al. v. McKesson Corp., et al., the Northern District of California held that it was divested of jurisdiction by the Hobbs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2342, and thus could not reconsider the validity of a declaratory ruling rendered by the Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau of the Federal