Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(2), a Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan cannot modify the rights of a secured creditor whose claim is only secured by an “interest in real property that is the debtor’s principal residence.” On December 6, the Eleventh Circuit held that this provision prevents the discharge of a mortgage in a Chapter
On Oct. 4, 2018, in Smith v. Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company,[1] the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa ruled the plaintiff could not advance his putative class action under the Fair Credit Reporting Act if he qualified as an independent contractor rather than an employee. The decision presents another helpful
The Northern District of California recently held that medical records are not discoverable in Fair Credit Reporting Act cases when a plaintiff only generally alleges that he or she suffered emotional harm. In Prado v. Equifax Information Services, LLC, the plaintiff claimed Equifax mixed up her credit report with that of her sister,
On January 3, 49 state attorneys general announced a settlement with Career Education Corporation (“CEC”), a for-profit education company, to resolve claims that CEC engaged in unfair and deceptive practices. The settlement requires CEC to forgo any collection efforts against $493.7 million in outstanding loan debt held by nearly 180,000 former students. It also imposes
Effective January 1, Troutman Sanders promoted 13 attorneys to the partnership, including Virginia Flynn and Ethan Ostroff, two active contributors to the Consumer Financial Services Law Monitor blog. In addition, contributors Mohsin Reza and James Trefil were promoted to counsel, and Kyle Deak was named the managing partner of Troutman Sanders’ Raleigh
More than two weeks have passed since the government shutdown began on December 22, 2018, and there is still no immediate end in sight. President Trump has resolved to continue the shutdown for as “long as it takes,” declining to sign spending legislation without the requested $5 billion for the border wall. Federal governmental entities,
A recent immigration proposal from the Trump administration seeks to require the use of credit reports and scores as part of the U.S.’s immigration and green card review process. The proposal, which specifically notes the Fair Credit Reporting Act in discussing an applicant’s requirement to provide (and sometimes pay for) a credit report, will also
On December 20, the District of New Jersey granted summary judgment in favor of a defendant in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act case, finding the calling system at issue was not an automatic telephone dialing system because the system required human intervention to initiate calls.
In Collins v. National Student Loan Program, plaintiff Maurice
The Northern District of Illinois recently granted summary judgment in favor of a debt collector in Trischler v. MRS BPO LLC, holding that collection letters effectively stated the amount of the debt.
Consumer plaintiff Jacob Trischler incurred some credit card debt, which was subsequently assigned to MRS for collection by the original creditor. MRS
On December 17, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York ruled in favor of a debt collector in Taubenfliegel v. Miller & Milone, P.C., granting a motion for summary judgment regarding the naming of the creditor in a collection letter.
Plaintiff Elizabeth Taubenfliegel alleged violations of Section 1692g of