On February 22, 2019, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued a precedential ruling affirming a district court’s finding that Crown Asset Management LLC is a debt collector under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. In doing so, the Third Circuit interpreted the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Henson v. Santander, Consumer USA Inc., 137
A federal court in Pennsylvania recently awarded summary judgment in favor of a consumer who brought a suit under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act against a collection agency. The plaintiff alleged, and the Court agreed, that the collection letter misleadingly indicated that a dispute could be made by phone, despite the letter’s inclusion of
On February 13, the Federal Trade Commission issued its annual report for fiscal year 2018 and announced that enforcement actions from July 2017 through June 2018 yielded more than $2.3 billion in refunds to allegedly defrauded U.S. consumers. To put the total sum in perspective, the $2.3 billion figure was almost eight times the FTC’s
On February 20, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a compliance guide for small entities that summarizes payment-related provisions of the Payday Lending Rule.
The Payday Lending Rule governs payday loans, vehicle tile loans, and certain high-cost installment loans. The Guide focuses on the payment provisions of the Payday Lending rule, found in Subpart C
On February 22, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss in a Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (“DPPA”) putative class action, holding that the DPPA does not provide a private right of action against state officials in their official capacities. A copy
A group of 21 states and the District of Columbia submitted a comment letter opposing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s effort to revise and boost its Policy on No-Action Letters (“NAL Policy”) and the creation of a CFPB Product Sandbox. The NAL Policy and Product Sandbox will allow companies
The Federal Trade Commission has announced that it is retaining the CAN-SPAM Rule as is, deciding to keep the Rule unchanged as a result of a regulatory review. Hence, any business that sends marketing email must redouble efforts to comply with the CAN-SPAM Rule.
What is the CAN-SPAM Rule?
The CAN-SPAM Rule establishes requirements for
On January 22, the United States District Court for the District of Arizona found that a consumer had standing to pursue a claim under the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act. The case is Driesen v. RSI Enterprises Inc., No. 3:18-cv-08140-PCT-DWL (D. Ariz. Jan. 22, 2019).
The plaintiff, Kimberly Driesen, received phone
On February 13, a national class action lawsuit was filed against prepaid mobile phone operator Tracfone Wireless Inc., alleging that the company violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending a text message advertisement via an automatic telephone dialing system, or “ATDS.”
Plaintiff Brian Gallant alleges that Tracfone sent him a
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) carries the risk of annihilative damages for class action defendants based on its remarkable statutory damages scheme. Because of this risk, the statute has been the subject of significant court and agency attention recently. And much of this attention – from the D.C. Circuit’s opinion in ACA International to