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  • District Court partially dismisses TCPA claims

    Courts

    On December 12, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois partially granted a culinary school’s motion to dismiss claims concerning unwanted calls to enroll in cooking classes. According to the memorandum opinion and order, the plaintiff filed suit after the culinary school called her over 30 times, even though she had requested the school to place her on a do-not-call list. The plaintiff claimed the school violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by making unwanted calls and leaving prerecorded messages on her cell phone.  

    According to the court, any calls made to a cell phone cannot violate § 227(b)(1)(B) because the court reasoned that “a cellular phone and a residential phone are not the same thing,” and that § 227(b)(1)(B) of the TCPA expressly covers “residential telephone line[s],” but not cellular telephone services. Regarding the plaintiff’s claim under § 227(b)(1)(A) of the TCPA, although the school argued there was not enough proof that the calls were prerecorded, including because some of the calls came from different states, the court disagreed and provided examples of why the calls could have been prerecorded. The court consequently denied the school’s motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s § 227(b)(1)(A) claim.

    Courts TCPA

  • District Court grants motion to dismiss in FDCPA case regarding an undated Model Validation Notice

    Courts

    On December 5, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a debt collection agency (the defendant) a motion to dismiss an individual’s (plaintiff’s) complaint. The case considers whether an undated Model Validation Notice (MVN) is a material detail that provides standing to sue under the FDCPA. An MVN is a form provided by the CFPB in Appendix B of the Debt Collection Rule to assist debt collection agencies in complying with FDCPA notice and disclosure requirements. However, the CFPB provides an undated MVN, so many debt collectors who use this template fail to provide a date when sending a debt collection letter to individuals, leading to a recipient’s confusion when the debt collector writes “today” or “now.”

    In this case, the plaintiff alleges that the undated collection letter suggests the defendant “withheld a material term from [p]laintiff which made it confusing for him to understand the nature of the subject debt.” The plaintiff did not pay the debt, and instead, he alleged that he suffered damages from the defendant’s “suspicious, misleading, deceptive, unfair, and unconscionable actions.”

    Before addressing the merits of the plaintiff’s claims, the court applied Article III standing to determine if the plaintiff had a basis to sue. The court considered whether the plaintiff had suffered a “concrete, particularized injury” in receiving an undated letter from the defendant and concluded that the plaintiff did not suffer harm as a result of this act under Article III because “[t]ime and money spent due to concern and confusion are not concrete harms.” The court held the plaintiff had no standing to bring this action and granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s claims. The court, however, gave the plaintiff the opportunity to file an amended complaint.

    Courts FDCPA Debt Collection CFPB SDNY Consumer Finance

  • District Court dismisses FDCPA suit; clarifies debt collector communication on identity theft

    Courts

    On December 5, the U.S. District Court of New Jersey dismissed an FDCPA suit brought against a debt collector. According to the opinion, plaintiff originally filed suit because they received a letter from defendant regarding an outstanding cell phone bill. The letter provided instructions on what to do if the recipient suspected identity theft. Additionally, the letter contained a summary of plaintiff’s account and a QR code that linked to defendant’s website for online payment. Plaintiff contended that the dual approach of offering assistance while simultaneously pursuing collection of a debt was false and misleading. A District Court judge, however, disagreed and dismissed the case, at which point the plaintiff filed an amended complaint.

    The amended complaint alleges that the debt collector breached the FDCPA by using false, deceptive or misleading representations regarding the rights of the plaintiff and the obligations of the debt collector with respect to communications concerning identity theft. Specifically, plaintiff argued defendant was in violation of § 1681m(g) of the FDCPA, which obligates a debt collector to take certain steps upon being notified of identity theft, but the court disagreed, finding that the collector’s specific steps taken were in accordance with the Act.

    The court emphasized that plaintiff did not introduce any new factual claims in the amended complaint, and merely clarified how the facts already outlined in the initial complaint breached the FDCPA. The judge ruled that the letter not only allows plaintiff to inform defendant about potential identity theft, but also may serve to bring potential identity theft to plaintiff’s attention. The ruling stated that there is no obligation to extensively explain recommended procedures in the case of an identity theft occurrence, and only an “idiosyncratic reading” of the letter would lead to the conclusion that the letter misrepresents defendant’s obligations.

    Courts Debt Collection FDCPA New Jersey Identity Theft Disclosures

  • NY state court granted decision to continue its new check cashing fee methodology

    State Issues

    On December 7, the Supreme Court of the State of New York granted a motion to dismiss a challenge made to NYDFS’s check cashing regulation and ruled in favor of NYDFS. As previously covered in InfoBytes, the January regulation’s methodology capped the maximum percentage check cashing fee for most check types (social security, unemployment, emergency relief, veterans’ benefits) at 2.2 percent or $1, whichever is greater, and eliminated automatic fee increases based on CPI every year that had been in place since 2005.

    Shortly after the rule took effect in June, several plaintiffs sued NYDFS alleging that the amended regulation was arbitrary and capricious, violated the purpose of the banking law, and was an unconstitutional property deprivation. The NY Supreme Court found that the amended regulation had a rational basis and was supported by the administrative record. Because NYDFS neither violated the NY state banking law nor the Administrative Procedures Act, the court further declared that the “amended regulation did not constitute a deprivation of property in the absence of either procedural or substantive due process.” Because the court dismissed the petition entirely in NYDFS’s favor, the court denied the plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction as merely “academic.” 

    State Issues Courts Check Cashing Fees Consumer Finance NYDFS CPI

  • 3rd Circuit affirms district court’s decision that losing a debt collection case does not necessarily violate FDCPA

    Courts

    On December 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed a U.S. District Court’s order denying a consumer’s motion for reconsideration of the grant of summary judgment against the consumer. After the consumer successfully defended herself in a debt collection action in municipal court, she sued the debt collection agency that had brought suit against her in federal court alleging that the agency violated the FDCPA by utilizing false or deceptive means in collecting debts that she did not owe in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1692e and unfair or unconscionable means in the collection of any debt in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1692f.  

    The district court granted judgment to the debt collection company and denied the individual’s motion for reconsideration. The appellate court found that the consumer failed to produce evidence that proved the debt collection agency made any false or deceptive representations or acted unfairly or unconscionably in bringing the debt collection action against the consumer. Although the agency failed to meet its burden of proof in the municipal action, the court noted that “losing a debt collection lawsuit does not in itself mean a defendant violated the FDCPA.” 

    Courts FDCPA Debt Collection

  • FDIC agrees to settle with CEO and board members after District Court dismissal

    Courts

    On December 7, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana dismissed a lawsuit brought by the FDIC against the chairman, president and CEO and board members of a state-chartered Louisiana bank after the parties reached a confidential settlement. In 2017, the State of Louisiana closed the bank and appointed the FDIC as the bank’s receiver. According to the DOJ’s press release, the bank’s former chairman, president and CEO was found guilty of 46 counts of bank fraud, conspiracy and other charges related to the bank’s collapse and has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and required to pay $214 million in restitution in August 2023. The FDIC also brought a civil action alleging that the bank’s chairman, president and CEO abused his incremental lending authority and the bank’s board loan committee approved improper credit extensions. The FDIC claimed it was entitled to recover $165 million from the bank in its capacity as its receiver: the loans consisted of $114 million for the bank’s chairman’s alleged commission of “gross negligence and breaches of fiduciary duty” and $51 million for the bank’s “gross negligence in approving other credit extensions.” More specifically, the bank’s chairman, president and CEO “recklessly” approved improper credit extensions, while the bank’s board loan committee violated “prudent business practices” by approving director loans. 

    Courts FDIC DOJ Settlement Loans

  • EU court clarifies conditions for imposing GDPR fines

    Courts

    On December 5, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a judgment clarifying the conditions under which a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) fine can be imposed on data controllers. The judgment is in response to two cases involving GDPR fines: (i) a German case in which a real estate company was fined for allegedly storing personal data for tenants for longer than necessary, and (ii) a Lithuanian case in which a government health center was fined in connection to the creation of an app that registered and tracked people exposed to Covid-19.

    In the judgment, the CJEU clarified that a data controller can only face an administrative fine under the GDPR for intentional or negligent violations—that is, violations for which a data controller was aware or should have been aware of “the infringing nature of its conduct,” regardless of their knowledge of the specific violation. The judgment also held that for a legal person, it is not necessary for the violation to be committed by its “management body,” nor does that body need to have knowledge of the specific violation. Instead, the legal person is accountable for violations committed by its representatives, directors, or managers, and those acting on their behalf within the business scope. Additionally, imposing an administrative fine on a legal entity as a data controller does not require prior identification of a specific person responsible for the violation.

    The judgment also addressed administrative fines for operations involving multiple entities. The CJEU noted that a controller may have a fine imposed upon it for actions undertaken by its processor. The court also clarified that a joint controller relationship arises from the two or more entities participating in determining the purpose and means for processing, and “does not require that there be a formal arrangement between the entities in question.”

    To calculate the amount of an administrative fine under the GDPR, the supervisory authority must consider the notion of an “undertaking” under competition law. The maximum fine must be based on the percentage of the total worldwide annual turnover of the particular undertaking in the preceding business year.

    Courts European Union GDPR Enforcement

  • District Court grants MSJ for debt collector in FDCPA case

    Courts

    On November 29, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York granted summary judgment in favor of a debt collector (defendant) under the FDCPA, holding that the defendant’s collection letter was not misleading.

    According to the court’s order, the plaintiff and the defendant established a payment agreement over the phone, during which the representative mentioned to the plaintiff that the interest rate on the loan would be lowered to 5.99 percent, and that failure to make any of the 11 monthly payments could render the agreement void. Shortly after, the plaintiff received a letter from the defendant that conveyed essentially the same information. The defendant also provided the plaintiff with billing statements, including a statement indicating $11.14 in accumulated interest during the initial month in the payment plan. Additionally, the defendant sent the plaintiff a collection letter that outlined the monthly payment and total balance due. The collection letter contained a warning that interest, late charges, and other charges that may vary from day to day could result in a greater balance than the amount plaintiff owed as of the date of the letter. The plaintiff argued that the warning was contradictory to the concept of “fixed” payment plan, and thus was deceptive and misleading in violation of Section 1692e.  

    The court noted that it had previously dismissed an FDCPA case against the same defendant using similar language in the context of a debt settlement. In that case, the defendant provided both a disclaimer and the settlement offer, and the court held that including both in the same communication “does not automatically render the letter misleading ... [d]efendant accurately and unambiguously conveyed the agreed-upon monthly payment, total balance, and APR.” The court also reasoned that holding debt collectors liable for violating the FDCPA in such instances might discourage them from proposing debt settlement plans to consumers. 

    Courts FDCPA Disclosures New York Debt Collection

  • District Court grants motion for summary judgment to DFPI in commercial financing disclosure case

    Courts

    On December 4, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted the California DFPI’s motion for summary judgment which challenged the DFPI’s commercial financing regulations. According to the DFPI’s press release, the proposed regulations would require commercial financing providers to disclose key metrics to small businesses to help them understand their financing options, including the amount of funding provided, APR, finance charge, and payment amounts.

    In their complaint, the plaintiffs argued that the regulations violated the First Amendment and were preempted by TILA. The court disagreed, holding that (1) the regulations do not violate the First Amendment under the test for compelled commercial speech since the required disclosures under the Regulations are “reasonably related” to substantial government interest and are not “unjustified or unduly burdensome”; and (2) because the CFPB made a “rational conclusion” that TILA does not preempt commercial financing regulations, the court would defer to the CFPB’s determination.

    Courts State Issues DFPI California TILA APR Commercial Finance

  • District Court grants motion to approve settlement under federal and CA FDCPA

    Courts

    On November 16, the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California granted the parties’ motion for preliminary approval of a proposed class action settlement and provisional class certification. The plaintiffs sued under both the federal FDCPA and California’s Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The class action comprises a lead plaintiff as well as approximately 300 individuals.

    The plaintiffs alleged that the defendant, a debt collector, left numerous voicemails and text messages between June and October 2021 that failed to disclose the defendant’s identity, and nature of business, and that the communication was an attempt to collect a debt. The plaintiffs also alleged that the communications instilled a “false sense of urgency… by falsely representing or implying that a civil lawsuit would be filed… to collect a defaulted consumer debt” when none was actually filed.

    During mediation, the parties agreed to settle the case. Under the terms of the proposed settlement approved by the court, the defendant will pay $51,975 to the plaintiffs, and up to $123,000 in attorney’s fees and costs. The plaintiffs will each receive no less than $175, while the leading plaintiff will receive $2,000.

    Courts FDCPA Debt Collection California

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