The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama joined a growing number of courts dismissing FCRA claims based upon a furnisher’s alleged failure to remove an “account in dispute” notation from consumer credit reports. In Griffin v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc., No. 1:20-cv-801-RAH-SMD, 2021 WL 3782141 (M.D. Ala. Aug. 26, 2021), the plaintiff had four accounts that were marked as “in dispute.” The plaintiff decided to dispute the “account in dispute” notation by contacting consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) rather than the furnishers ...
On August 26, 2021, the Florida Supreme Court amended the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure to adopt the so-called “apex doctrine” that protects high-level corporate officers from abusive discovery. Generally speaking, jurisdictions that adopt the apex doctrine require a party seeking to depose high ranking officials in a company or government agency to demonstrate that the party seeking discovery has exhausted less burdensome means to obtain the discovery and that the high-level official has a unique ability to provide relevant information that cannot be obtained from ...
In line with the recent trend of courts giving increased scrutiny to standing in consumer finance cases, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal this week under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) for lack of Article III standing in Ward v. National Patient Account Services Solutions, Inc., No. 20-5902, 2021 WL 3616067, -- F.4th -- (6th Cir. Aug. 16, 2021). The plaintiff alleged that NPAS, Inc. left him voicemails regarding his medical debt which simply identified itself as “NPAS” rather than “NPAS, Inc.,” which confused him as to the correct ...
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was enacted to promote the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information maintained by Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs). In addition to imposing duties on the CRAs, it requires furnishers of information to provide accurate and complete information to the CRAs and to investigate any consumer disputes regarding the accuracy of that information. Increased claims of identity theft by consumers have given rise to more disputes that accounts are not accurately being reported as belonging to those consumers. These “identity theft” ...
Increased claims of identity theft by consumers have given rise to more disputes that accounts are being inaccurately reported. Our clients are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of identity theft-related FCRA lawsuits. To learn more, please join us for a webinar, "How to Defend Identity Theft Claims Under the FCRA" on Wednesday, August 4 from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm CDT. Panelists will discuss critical elements to a reasonable identity theft investigation and techniques for defending FCRA claims related to identity theft.
Panelists will also cover the duties of a furnisher of ...
In just a few days, on July 31, 2021, the national moratoriums on residential evictions and foreclosures are set to expire. With this deadline fast approaching, the Biden administration announced a new mortgage relief plan on July 23 to provide relief for individuals with federally-backed mortgages who might soon face the possibility of losing their homes.
The new program is aimed at reducing the monthly payments for individuals with qualifying mortgage loans. Borrowers struggling to make their payments and facing foreclosure as the moratorium ends can negotiate a reduction in ...
On July 6, 2021, the Eleventh Circuit issued a per curiam opinion affirming the Southern District of Alabama’s entry of summary judgment in the lender’s favor on a plaintiff’s claim under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), therein finding that the district court did not err in dismissing the claim for willful violation of the FCRA because the plaintiff failed to establish that the lender’s interpretation of its obligations under the statute was objectively unreasonable.
In Ajomale v. Quicken Loans Inc., –– Fed Appx. ––, 2021 WL 2799939 (Jul. 6, 2021), the ...
On May 5, 2021, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued an opinion that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") exceeded its statutory authority by issuing and extending a nationwide moratorium on evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. See Alabama Association of Realtors v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, No. 20-cv-3377 (DLF) (D.D.C. May 5, 2021). A judgment was entered vacating the moratorium, which was set to expire on June 30, 2021. However, the court entered a stay of this judgment pending the outcome of an appeal to the ...
On August 31, 2021, a new final rule amending Regulation X’s mortgage servicing rules for borrowers experiencing hardship due to COVID-19 will take effect. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) hopes that these provisions will prevent a new foreclosure crisis when the majority of existing foreclosure moratoria implemented by state and federal governments expire over the course of this summer. A mastery of these new provisions will be essential knowledge for lenders, loan servicers, and their counsel in the coming months and years ahead.
Here are five major ...
On June 25, 2021, in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court held that the individual members of a class "must demonstrate, among other things, that they suffered a concrete harm" in order to have Article III standing to recover individual damages in a class action. [1]
In TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, --- S. Ct. ----, 2021 WL 2599472 (2021), a certified class of over 8,000 people alleged TransUnion LLC ("TransUnion") violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA") by failing to use reasonable procedures to ensure the accuracy of its credit files. [2] The allegations arose after TransUnion ...