In Charvat v. Mutual First Federal Credit Union, 2013 WL 3958300 (8th Cir. Aug 2, 2013), the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that actual damages in the form of an economic injury is not required to confer standing under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act ("EFTA"), 15 U.S.C. § 1693. The plaintiff sought statutory damages in a putative class action, alleging that the defendants failed to provide the required notices on their ATM's before charging him a transaction fee for withdrawing cash. The EFTA prohibits charging a transaction fee unless the ATM provides notice of the fee on both ...
The Northern District of West Virginia, applying the FCC's May 9, 2013 Declaratory Ruling in Dish Network, LLC, 28 F.C.C.Rcd. 6574, recently held that "on behalf of" liability found in §227(c) (5) of the TCPA does not require a formal agency relationship, but can instead rely on principals of apparent authority and ratification to establish vicarious liability under the TCPA. In Mey v. Monitronics Int'l., ---F.Supp.2d---, 2013 WL 4105430 (N.D.W.Va. 2013), the plaintiff sued three defendants for violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's prohibition against calls to ...
In Giovanniello v. ALM Media, LLC, No. 10-3854-CV, --- F.3d ---, 2013 WL 4016567 (2d Cir. Aug. 8, 2013), the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that (1) the federal four-year statute of limitations applies to claims under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227 ("TCPA"); and (2) the tolling of the limitations period during the pendency of a putative class action ceases upon the initial denial of class status. In an earlier decision, the Second Circuit applied the state-law statute of limitations and affirmed the dismissal of the plaintiff's TCPA claim as ...
In Jamison v. First Credit Services, Inc., 2013 WL 3872171 (N.D. Ill. July 29, 2013), the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied a motion for reconsideration filed by Plaintiff. Plaintiff's motion asked the court to reconsider its earlier denial of class certification of a Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") action. Jamison involves an alleged violation of the TCPA after a debt collector, acting on behalf of American Honda Finance Corporation, allegedly called Plaintiff's cellular telephone multiple times without consent. Plaintiff filed a ...
In Reed v. Chase Home Finance, LLC, --- F.3d ----, 2013 WL 3868079 (11th Cir. 2013), the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals evaluated one of the more recent additions to the Truth in Lending Act ("TILA"), 15 U.S.C. 1641(g), which requires a loan servicer to provide written notice of an assignment to the obligor. In Reed, the Plaintiff's claimed that Chase violated 1641(g) by failing to inform them that Chase had been assigned an interest in the Plaintiff's mortgage by virtue of an assignment of mortgage. However, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the summary judgment entered in favor of ...
In Murphy v. DirecTV, Inc., --- F.3d ---, 2013 WL 3889158 (9th Cir. July 30, 2013), consumers brought a putative class action against DirecTV and Best Buy alleging violations of California's Unfair Competition Law and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act. Plaintiffs claimed that defendants purported to sell receivers and DVRs when, in fact, they were leased to consumers on unfair terms. Defendants moved to compel plaintiffs' claims to arbitration and the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied their motion on the ground that Discover Bank v. Superior Court, 113 ...