On June 29, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had reached settlements with two Las Vegas auto dealerships, Planet Hyundai and Planet Nissan, over claims that they violated the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 by advertising large discounts not available to the general public.
The allegations against Planet Hyundai and Planet Nissan involved
On June 17, New York’s state attorney general announced a $14 million settlement to resolve claims of illegal “jamming” sales practices from 2010 to 2014 with Paragon Honda, Paragon Acura, and White Plains Honda, three New York City-area dealerships owned by the same individuals. The state’s press release defines jamming as “unlawfully charging consumers for
On June 25, 2015, a 5-4 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) permits discrimination claims brought under a disparate impact theory of liability. Justice Kennedy authored the majority opinion in the much-anticipated decision in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. – a
On June 18, 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) voted 3-2 to approve an order that promises to have major and negative impacts on companies who use modern telephone technology to text and call consumers.
The stark increase in the number of lawsuits that were filed under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) has been
On June 17, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit against Security National Automotive Acceptance Company, LLC, an Ohio-based auto-finance company specializing in lending to members of the United States military to purchase used vehicles. Security National operates in approximately 30 states.
The CFPB’s lawsuit alleges that Security National engaged in unfair, deceptive, or
On June 10, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a final rule defining larger participants of the automobile financing market. The new rule will become effective 60 days after being published in the Federal Register. The final rule follows up the CFPB’s proposed rule, issued on September 17, 2014, on which we previously reported here
In a matter of first impression, a New Jersey appellate court found that whether a class is ascertainable – a factor that is commonly analyzed in federal court – played no role in its consideration of a “low-value” consumer class action. In Daniels v. Hollister Co., the court determined that ascertainability is not
In Modica v. Green Tree Servicing, LLC, the Northern District of Illinois limited the scope of what constitutes an Automatic Telephone Dialing System (ATDS) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Judge Zagel found that a system requiring an agent to manually access a consumer’s telephone number from a computer server and then “click” to
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is modifying its complaint database so that consumers can post narratives about their experiences with financial service providers. According to the CFPB’s release, available at http://www.consumerfinance.gov/newsroom/cfpb-finalizes-policy-to-give-consumers-the-opportunity-to-voice-publicly-complaints-about-financial-companies/, the purpose of the database enhancement is to help consumers make informed choices and identify market trends. But the implementation could result
On April 13, 2015, a bipartisan group of 34 members of the United States House of Representatives introduced a bill that would repeal a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) bulletin from 2013 challenging a common practice in the indirect auto finance industry where automobile dealers would set interest rates on consumer financings.
The bill, entitled