On June 3, the Supreme Court set the standard for consumer recovery of damages, punitive damages, and attorney fees for collection of debts discharged in bankruptcy. This article also explains that judgments on discharged debts are void, describes the advantages of FDCPA remedies, and provides a comparison between remedies for automatic stay violations and discharge violations.

A Supreme Court May 28 ruling supports the right of consumers sued in state court to avoid removal to federal court when they bring class or federal claims in that state court action, even against third parties. As examined in this article, the ruling gives consumers some control over the decision whether to litigate in state or federal court.

A recent Supreme Court decision in Cochise Consultancy is favorable for private litigation under the federal False Claims Act (FCA). This article explains how the decision also underscores that FCA litigation has a number of advantages to challenge consumer abuses compared with class actions under traditional consumer causes of action.

The Supreme Court has just made it harder, but not impossible, for consumers to proceed in arbitration on a class basis. An ambiguous provision is insufficient to authorize class arbitration, but this article explains how language commonly found in arbitration agreements might still be found to authorize class arbitration.

Effective April 1, the CFPB Prepaid Accounts Rule adds protections for prepaid cards, payroll cards, and person-to-person payment services, as set out in this article. The rule improves fee transparency, protects cards from unauthorized charges and errors, and addresses abusive overdraft fees. Consumers can obtain actual and statutory damages and attorney fees for violations.

As discussed in this article, a March 25 Eleventh Circuit ruling is a strong pro-consumer decision on five different fronts. A furnisher’s “data conformity review” is an FCRA violation as a matter of law. The holding also addresses the FCRA “willfulness” standard, and punitive and emotional distress damages under the FCRA. The ruling is even relevant to the bona fide error defense under the FDCPA.

The Supreme Court in 2017 ruled debt buyers do not fall under the FDCPA’s second definition of a debt collector—one who regularly collects debts owed to another. As discussed here, the Third Circuit in Barbato has just found a debt buyer covered under the FDCPA’s principal purpose definition, concluding that FDCPA coverage does not require a debt buyer to engage in overt collections.

Overview On March 20, 2019, the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus L.L.P. examined liability for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) that are committed in non-judicial foreclosures. This article considers which FDCPA claims arising from foreclosures are viable post- Obduskey. Obduskey holds that entities whose principal purpose is...

Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation is one of today’s hottest areas and this article provides new practice tips in bringing suits involving robocalls and junk faxes, based on the very latest case rulings and expert advice.

Effective April 1, consumers filing bankruptcy will be able to exempt more of their equity in their homes, cars, household goods, and even retirement accounts. This article describes all the bankruptcy dollar amount changes going into effect April 1.

The Supreme Court has just imposed the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause on the states, recognizing that the clause is a shield against government’s using high fines for revenue-generating purposes. This article explains that the opinion will surely be used to challenge the rising fines imposed by state and local governments and their impact on low-income defendants.

This article provides tips on advising lower income consumers on the many changes this tax season—including increased refund delays, increased problems with RACs, RALs, and paid tax preparers, growing use of private collection of IRS debt, and new requirements to renew ITINs. Also included are pointers on dealing with unaffordable taxes.

This article summarizes all 34 FDCPA reported appellate decisions issued in 2018, reports on a pending Supreme Court FDCPA case, and describes NCLC’s digital tool to locate relevant FDCPA case summaries from summaries of over 14,000 FDCPA decisions.

This article lists federal and state consumer law changes scheduled to become effective in 2019. That is, the listing includes consumer law changes enacted in 2018 or earlier, but scheduled to go into effect in 2019.

This article examines Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 changes that, effective December 1, establish new standards for electronic class action notices, require more information before approval of a class notice, clarify standards for court approval of a class settlement, and seek to reduce abuses by those improperly objecting to class settlements.

On December 1, extensive amendments to the Bankruptcy Rules go into effect. As analyzed in this article, of special note are rules dealing with mortgage loan payments in chapter 13 cases, electronic filing of bankruptcy forms, and with appeals from bankruptcy court to the federal district court.

A recent appellate court ruling highlights the availability of attorney fees for the consumer when a creditor or debt buyer fails to prevail in a credit card or other collection action. This article sets out seven ways in which consumers can recover such attorney fees if the creditor fails in its collection lawsuit.

An important recent Ninth Circuit ruling rejects a federal regulation as to when a national bank can ignore state law. This article explains how the decision underscores that federal regulators and some courts have been overly expansive in protecting banks from liability for violating state consumer protection laws.

A court has ordered that long-delayed Dep’t of Ed. rules become effective October 16, 2018. This article explains how the rules now: prohibit schools from requiring mandatory arbitration or class waivers of certain student claims, even for preexisting agreements; increase the availability of closed school and false certification discharges; and improve the administrative process for students to raise school-related defenses on their loans.

Billions of pieces of information that creditors, debt collectors, and other “furnishers” of information send to credit reporting agencies are in a standard format called Metro 2. This article links to updated and expanded information on creditors’ liability when they report consumer data in a non-conforming manner that leads to inaccurate consumer reports.