The United States Bankruptcy Panel of the First Circuit held that the Home Owner's Loan Act ("HOLA"), 12 U.S.C. § 1461 et seq. preempted certain Massachusetts statutory claims in the recent case Frykberg v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (In re Frykberg), No. 12-050, 2013 WL 1704701 (B.A.P. 1st Cir. Apr. 18, 2013). There, the debtor filed an adversary complaint against JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. ("Chase") alleging claims under the Massachusetts Consumer Credit Cost Disclosure Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140D, § 8, and the Massachusetts Predatory Home Loan Practices Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ...
In Dang v. Bank of America, N.A., et al., 2013 WL 1683820 (D.Md. Apr. 17, 2013), the federal district court for the District of Maryland, on appeal of two orders from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland, found the bankruptcy court possessed jurisdiction and authority to dismiss Dang's claims against Bank of America and related entities in the adversary proceeding. Dang was familiar with the bankruptcy process. Between May 2009 and March 2010, she filed bankruptcy three times. Her bankruptcies originated with the execution of a promissory note and deed of ...
In Wells Fargo Bank v. Bohatka, et al., 38 Fla. L. Weekly D885a (Fla. 1st DCA April 22, 2013), the Florida First DCA reversed dismissal with prejudice of a residential foreclosure complaint. While the appellate court agreed that dismissal of the complaint was proper, it held that dismissal with prejudice was not. The trial court erred by going beyond the four corners of the complaint on the borrowers' motion to dismiss. In its foreclosure complaint, Wells Fargo alleged that it was the owner and holder of the subject promissory note and mortgage by virtue of an equitable transfer which ...
The District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan recently held that a debt collector's accusation during a telephone call that the debtor was "lying" was sufficient to state a claim under the harassment and abuse provisions of the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act. In Summers v. Merchants & Medical Credit Corp., 2013 WL 1507529, the Debtor-Plaintiff alleged that a representative of Defendant Merchants & Medical Credit Corporation accused her of "not being honest" and specifically accused her of "lying" about her job during a conversation in which the agent attempted to ...
In Riddle v. Bank of America Corp., et al., 2013 WL 1482668 (E.D. Pa. Apr. 11, 2013), the federal district court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania held plaintiffs' allegation that the defendants actively concealed a reinsurance kickback scheme was sufficient to equitably toll the running of RESPA's one-year statute of limitations and, as such, that plaintiffs' RESPA claim could survive dismissal.
The plaintiffs filed a putative RESPA class action suit against Bank of America and various mortgage insurers claiming that the defendants engaged in an illegal scheme whereby ...
In Zaborowski v. MHN Gov't Services, Inc., 2013 WL 1363568 (N.D. Cal. April 3, 2013), the Northern District of California held that an employment contract arbitration agreement, which incorporated the filing fee schedule set forth in the rules of the American Arbitration Association ("AAA"), was unconscionable. The Zaborowski plaintiffs brought a class action lawsuit against their employer seeking damages in excess of $75,000, alleging that the employer had deprived them of overtime compensation by misclassifying them as independent contractors rather than employees. The ...
In Suzanne Hill, et al. v. Midland Funding, LLC, et al., No. 1:12-cv-02397-CCB (D.MD. Apr. 16, 2013), Plaintiffs brought a putative class action against Midland Funding LLC (Midland) alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the Maryland Consumer Debt Collection Act (MCDCA) and the Maryland Consumer Protection Act (MCPA). In support of their claims, Plaintiffs contend that Midland violated the FDCPA when it filed collection law suits against them listing the address of its parent company, an address at which the stated plaintiff in each lawsuit was ...
Two recent federal court decisions involving claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ("FDCPA") highlight why FDCPA defendants should not overlook the most basic elements of an FDCPA claim in forming their defense. In both of these cases, the courts dismissed the plaintiffs' claims for failure to allege that the defendants were "debt collectors." See Hunt v. U.S. Bank, N.A., et al., 2013 WL 1398964 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 3, 2013); Izmirligil v. Bank of New York Mellon, et al., 2013 WL 1345370 (E.D.N.Y. Apr. 2, 2013). Both the Hunts and Izmirligil brought FDCPA claims against a ...
In Mais v. Gulf Coast Collection Bureau, Inc., 2013 WL 1283885, 11-CV-61936 (S.D. Fla. March 27, 2013), Judge Robert N. Scola of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued an important opinion concerning the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"), 47 U.S.C § 227(b)(1)(A)(iii), in a case dealing with one of the more troubling trends in TCPA litigation - efforts to hold individual officers or stakeholders of TCPA defendants individually liable. In Mais, Jack W. Brown III ("Brown") was named a defendant in a putative TCPA class action. Brown was allegedly the ...
In Manno v. Healthcare Revenue Recovery Group, LLC, 2013 WL 1283881, 11-cv-61357 (S.D. Fla. March 26, 2013), Judge Robert N. Scola of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida certified a Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"), 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A)(iii), and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ("FDCPA"), 15 U.S.C. § § 1692e(11) and 1692d(6), class action over the objection of the Defendant. The Defendant objected to the Plaintiff's standing on both Article III constitutional grounds and based upon the alleged lack of statutory standing under the TCPA. The ...