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Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

Special Alert: Madden Class Action Moves Forward

Courts Usury FDCPA Debt Collection Class Action Special Alerts Madden

Courts

On February 27, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a ruling in Madden v. Midland Funding, LLC,[1] holding that New York’s fundamental public policy against usury overrides a Delaware choice-of-law clause in the plaintiff’s credit card agreement.  The court allowed the plaintiff to proceed with Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) claims (and related state unfair or deceptive acts or practices claims) against the defendants, a debt buyer that had purchased the plaintiff’s charged-off credit card debt and its affiliated debt collector.  The court did not allow plaintiff’s claims for violations of New York’s usury law to proceed, as it held that New York’s civil usury statute does not apply to defaulted debts and that the plaintiff cannot directly enforce the criminal usury statute.  The court also granted the plaintiff’s motion for class certification.


[1] No. 11-CV-8149, 2017 WL 758518 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 27, 2017).


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If you have questions about the ruling or other related issues, visit our Class Actions practice for more information, or contact a Buckley Sandler attorney with whom you have worked in the past.