Earlier this month, the Fourth Circuit issued an unpublished opinion holding a debt collector’s autodialed calls to a residential landline with VoIP service violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act due to the fact that the consumer was charged for each call.

In Lynn v. Monarch Recovery Management, Inc., No. 13-2358, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS

In Alexander v. Coast Professional, Inc., No. 12-cv-1461, (E.D. Pa. Sept. 5, 2014), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania certified a class of Pennsylvania residents with defaulted student loans serviced by Coast Professional.  The class action under the FDCPA is based on the allegations that Coast Professional failed to

On October 16, the Second Circuit in Nigro v. Mercantile Adjustment Bureau, LLC, ruled against a debt collector by holding that the agency violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act when it repeatedly called the plaintiff about his deceased mother-in-law’s debt.  Despite the plaintiff providing the number called to the creditor, the Court of Appeals

Troutman Sanders partner, David N. Anthony, participated in a Strafford webinar early this year titled, “Consumer Debt Collection and New CFPB Regs, Enforcement and Litigation: Game Changers for the Industry.” Due to overwhelming popularity, Strafford scheduled an encore presentation with live Q&A for Tuesday, October 14, 1:00pm-2:30pm EDT.

The panel will provide banking and finance

New York Court administrators recently announced new rules impacting cases involving debt collector-plaintiffs with certain debt claims against consumers.  As we discussed on May 7th when the proposed rules were announced, the new rules place a higher burden of proof on debt collector-plaintiffs to establish chain of title and that they actually own the debt

On September 18, in Peters v. Financial Recovery Services, Inc., the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri held that neither the federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA) nor the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) prohibit a debt collector from charging state statutory pre-judgment interest after charge-off.  In reaching that

On August 20, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission jointly filed an amicus brief in Hernandez v. Williams, Zinman & Parham, P.C.  The case concerns the interpretation and enforcement of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and is currently on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

On January 2, 2014, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prohibits collection agencies from charging consumers a percentage fee of the balance of their debt unless the consumer has explicitly agreed to such a fee arrangement.  In Bradley v. Franklin Collection Services, Inc., a unanimous

As we discussed here, regulators have been keeping close watch on USA Discounters.  Today, the CFPB announced that it has “ordered the company to refund $350,000 to service members tricked into paying fees for benefits available for free.”  Last week, several senators wrote a letter urging the CFPB to investigate the findings of a

In a June 2 decision, Judge Richard Posner, writing for a unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, criticized a number of statements and other aspects within a notice of class action settlement that had been approved by the district court.  In response to a number of objections