John Chiles and Zachary Miller were recently published in the American Bar Association's The Business Lawyer (Vol. 68, No. 2) with an article entitled: The Supreme Court Settles a Decade-Long Debate -- 2012 Survey of RESPA Developments. The article highlights important decisions issued by U.S. federal courts addressing the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ("RESPA") during 2012. Of particular importance is the Supreme Court's decision in Freeman v. Quicken Loans, Inc., 132 S.Ct. 2034, --- U.S. ---- (2012), in which the Court unanimously settled a long-standing split in ...
The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided that a named class action plaintiff cannot prevent removal by stipulating to seek less than $5 million in damages before class certification, in Standard Fire Ins. Co. v. Knowles, 11-1450, --- U.S. ----, 2013 WL 1104735 (Mar. 19, 2013). The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 ("CAFA") provides federal district courts original jurisdiction over civil class action lawsuits when "the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $5,000,000." 28 U.S.C.A. § 1332(d)(2). The class must have more than 100 members and those members must be ...
For the first time, a federal court in Alabama addressed preemption under the Dodd-Frank Act. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, subsidiaries and affiliates of national banks can no longer argue that state laws are preempted. While the court held that the Dodd-Frank Amendment did not apply retroactively and found that the plaintiffs' claims were preempted, it noted the changed status of subsidiaries and affiliates of national banks in light of the Dodd-Frank Amendment. In Selman v. CitiMortgage, the plaintiffs filed suit against their mortgage loan servicer, the investor, and the insurer ...
In Florence Mussat, M.D., S.C. v. Global Healthcare Resource, LLC, 2013 WL 1087551 (N.D. Ill. March 13, 2013), the North District Court of Illinois for the Eastern Division granted a Motion for Class Certification for claims relating to alleged Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") violations and state law claims. In February of 2011, Defendant, Global Healthcare Resource, LLC ("GHR") sent a fax to Plaintiff, Florence Mussat, M.D., S.C. ("Mussat"), on behalf of Physician Billing Services ("PBS"), stating that PBS is a subsidiary of GHR that provides medical ...
A federal court in Pennsylvania recently held that a "Quick Response Code" ("QR Code") located on an envelope that contained a debt collection letter did not violate Section 1692f of the FDCPA. In Waldron v. Professional Medical Management, the plaintiff sued the defendant debt collection firm after it sent him collection letter bearing a QR Code that was visible through the pane of the envelope and, when scanned, showed the plaintiff's name, address, and a nineteen digit code. No. 12-1863, 2013 WL 978933 (E.D. Pa. Mar. 13, 2013). The defendant moved for summary judgment. In support of ...
In Wassef v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. CV-12-02480-PHX-DGC, 2013 WL 1123678 (D. Ariz. Mar. 18, 2013), the United States District Court for the District of Arizona granted a motion to dismiss where the claims were premised on an alleged repayment agreement. There, the plaintiffs had taken out a loan from Chase Bank, N.A. to refinance their home. The loan was secured with a deed of trust on the property. The plaintiffs later entered into a HAMP modification agreement with Chase, but they were unable to make their payments under the modification. The plaintiffs alleged that Chase ...
On March 7th, the Florida Supreme Court held that the economic loss rule (the doctrine that an economic loss is not recoverable under a tort theory unless accompanied by physical property damage or personal injury) applies only to products liability cases, effectively eliminating use of the doctrine in consumer cases. Tiara Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v. Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc., 2013 WL 828003 (Fla. Mar. 7, 2013). In Tiara, a condominium association sued its insurance broker under both tort and contract theories for failing to inform the association that it was underinsured for ...
Frank Springfield and Zachary Miller have written an article for the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association that was published in the Business Law Today. The article addresses the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's ("CFPB") rule defining "larger participants" in the consumer debt collection market and the impact that the CFPB will have on the collection industry. The article also highlights changes that can be expected for attorneys practicing in this industry and recent decisions released by federal courts addressing the scope of the Fair Debt Collection ...
An Alabama federal court recently rejected an attempt by certain merchant defendants to dismiss claims brought under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act ("FACTA"), 15 U.S.C. § 1681, et seq., on the basis of the plaintiffs' failure to allege actual damages. In the case, Amason v. Kangaroo Express, the plaintiffs sued merchants with whom they had transacted business, alleging that the defendants willfully violated FACTA by printing more than the last five digits of the plaintiffs' credit and debit card numbers on receipts. No. 7:09-2117-RDP, 2013 WL 987935, at 3 (N.D ...
In Echlin v. Columbia Collectors, Inc., NO. C12-5878 RBL, 2013 WL 858206 ( W.D. Wash. Mar. 7, 2013), the Western District of Washington held that an Offer of Judgment of $1,500 plus costs and attorneys' fees mooted the debtor's claim under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ("FDCPA"), where the debtor sought statutory damages, actual damages, costs, and attorneys' fees in her complaint yet failed to allege that she in fact suffered actual damages. The plaintiff-debtor in Echlin, who alleged that various notices sent by the defendant-debt collector were defective under the ...