On March 29, in Marshall v. Verde Energy USA, Inc., Judge John Vazquez of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed a plaintiff’s putative class action lawsuit against Verde Energy, finding, in part, that the plaintiff failed to state a claim under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (“CFA”). Marshall
The Eastern District of Pennsylvania concluded that an admitted professional litigant stated a claim under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act when he received the defendant’s telemarketing calls on his cell phone. The determinative factor was lack of allegations and evidence that the plaintiff used the phone for the sole purpose of bringing TCPA lawsuits. A
The West Virginia Supreme Court ruled against a debt collector in LTD Financial Services, L.P. v. Collins, affirming the lower court’s order granting the plaintiff’s motion for a directed verdict. Specifically, the Court ruled that the plaintiff was not required to prove intent as part of his affirmative claim and LTD Financial Services did
In a comprehensive report issued last week, the American Bankruptcy Institute Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy proposed recommendations that would allow student loans to be easier to discharge in bankruptcy, citing the staggering $1.5 trillion in student loan debt held in the United States and the current difficulties with discharging this type of debt in bankruptcy.
In connection with passing New York’s 2020 Executive Budget, the state enacted sweeping new regulations on student loan servicing. Governor Andrew Cuomo previously announced the regulations in a statement saying, “The student loan servicer industry has repeatedly raised serious consumer protection concerns that need to be addressed and with this proposal, we will provide sweeping
In light of recent challenges to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act on First Amendment grounds, a recent decision from the Middle District of Florida provides yet another clear example of the TCPA’s content-based discrimination.
The case, Gaza v. Navient Solutions LLC, No. 8:18-cv-1049, concerned calls made to a cell phone to collect a student
On February 28, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) re-introduced the Protecting Job Opportunities for Borrowers (“Protecting JOBs”) Act (S.609). The legislation would prevent states from suspending, revoking, or denying state professional, teaching, or driver’s licenses solely because a borrower falls behind on their federal student loan payments.
Government entities may seize state-issued
Requiring an employee or consumer to submit any dispute to binding arbitration as a condition of employment or purchase of a product or service is commonly referred to as “forced arbitration.” Many times, the employee or consumer is required to waive their right to sue or to participate in a class action lawsuit. Critics argue
On February 25, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had finalized a consent order settling its claims against online lender SoFi in connection with SoFi’s allegedly misleading advertising of its student loan refinancing products.
The FTC issued a complaint in October 2018 alleging that SoFi, for more than two years, had overstated the
The Supreme Court agreed to hear a consumer’s appeal from the Third Circuit’s ruling that his claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act were time-barred despite being brought within one year of discovering the violation. The circuits have been split on whether the one-year statute of limitations under the FDCPA begins to run when
