In response to the nationwide opioid crisis, forty-one state attorneys general issued subpoenas to five opioid drug manufacturers and three drug distributors this week. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman made the first public announcement of the multistate investigation. The subpoena demands information and documentation from the manufacturers and distributors regarding prescription opioid drugs as
CFPB Issues First No-Action Letter to Online Lender Using Alternative Data
On Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “Bureau”) issued its first no-action letter to Upstart Network, Inc., an online lender. The no-action letter green-lights the lender’s use of alternative data in marketing and pricing decisions. In exchange, Upstart will report lending and compliance information to the CFPB.
UPSTART’S MODEL
California-based Upstart provides an
FTC Cracks Down on Social Media Advertising in First-Ever Action Against Individual Social Media Influencers
The Federal Trade Commission settled its first-ever action against individual social media influencers for failing to disclose connections to brands the influencers endorsed. The action – against Trevor Martin (also known as “TmarTn”), Thomas Cassell (also known as “Syndicate”), and CSGOLotto, Inc. – alleged that Martin and Cassell endorsed CSGOLotto on their social media pages
CFPB’s Latest Supervisory Highlights Provides Valuable Statistics and Insight on Enforcement Efforts
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently released its Summer 2017 Supervisory Highlights, which summarizes the agency’s supervisory activities during the first half of this year.
Looking to the numbers. From January through June, the CFPB’s nonpublic supervisory activities led to restitution payments that totaled approximately $14 million, and public enforcement actions that netted an
Federal Appellate Court Rejects Attorneys’ Fees-Only Class Action Settlement
In January 2013, a teenager in Australia posted a photo online showing that his “footlong” Subway sandwich was in fact only 11 inches, setting off a viral storm of consumers discovering their “footlong” sandwiches were similarly not as large as advertised. That spawned a number of class action lawsuits in America accusing Subway’s franchisor, Doctor’s
NY and NJ Render Conflicting FDCPA Decisions Involving Credit Repair Companies
Two recent decisions from the Southern District of New York and the District of New Jersey have expressly disagreed about a credit repair company’s dispute of a debt on behalf of a consumer in two Fair Debt Collection Practices Act cases.
In Taylor-Burns v. AR Resources, Inc., plaintiff Tonya Taylor-Burns alleged that the debt
Federal Reserve Publishes Updates on Efforts to Improve Payment Systems
On September 6, the Federal Reserve published “Strategies for Improving the U.S. Payment System: Federal Reserve Next Steps in the Payments Improvement Journey,” a paper outlining the updated tactics the Federal Reserve intends to pursue to help improve the U.S. payment system. The paper follows up on the January 2015 paper entitled “Strategies for Improving
FTC and Debt Collector Agree to Defendant Leaving Debt Collection Practice
On August 24, the United States District Court for the Western District of New York entered a Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction and Monetary Judgment against the last of a group of defendants who engaged in banned debt collection practices. The defendant, Anthony Coppola, is now barred from debt collection activities, misrepresenting material facts of
Federal District Court Sanctions CFPB for Failing to Provide Knowledgeable Deposition Witness
On August 25, 2017, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia entered an order granting multiple Defendants’ consolidated motion for sanctions against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Defendants’ Rule 37 motion alleged the CFPB failed to produce a knowledgeable deposition witness and also failed to follow the Court’s various orders to
New TCPA Class Action: Expansion into Service Calls
On August 29, yet another Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action was filed in the Middle District of Florida. This suit, however, is a bit different than others that we have seen.
In Gillmore v. Lokey Automotive Group, Inc., the complaint alleges that text messages sent to the plaintiff April Gillmore by an automobile dealership