Consumer Finance

The California New Car Dealers' Association has challenged Volvo’s OEM subscription service.  Here are links to the Petition (http://www.informz.net/impexium-cncda/data/images/2019-1-15%20CNCDA%20Petition%20re%20Care%20by%20Volvo.pdf) and to the recent Press Release from the CNCDA (https://www.cncda.org/news/california-new-car-dealers-unanimously-granted-dmv-investigation-sought-in-volvo-petition/).    Severson continues to monitor such alternative finance and ownership arrangements for industry.     Read More

In Pascal v. Concentra, Inc., No. 19-cv-02559-JCS, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141400 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 20, 2019), Judge Spero confirmed that the TCPA affords no right to attorneys fees. It is undisputed that attorneys' fees are unavailable under the TCPA and Plaintiff has pointed to no source of authority that would allow him to recover attorneys' fees in this action.… Read More

In Williams v. Enhanced Recovery Co., LLC, No. 18-cv-03699-HSG, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137631 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 14, 2019), Judge Gilliam granted summary judgment to a debt collector. The Court finds that ERC has carried its burden to establish an entitlement to the bona fide error defense, and the Court thus does not consider whether there is a material dispute… Read More

In Foreman v. Bank of Am., N.A., No. 18-cv-01375-BLF, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136743 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 13, 2019), Judge Freeman addressed the propriety of a “stop payment” fee imposed by a bank on a consumer who wishes to stop EFT payments. This case involves a consumer's right to authorize his bank to transfer funds electronically to third parties through… Read More

Severson's own Joseph Guzzetta will moderate a panel of experts for The Rutter Group on the California Consumer Privacy Act.  The panel will consist of Mr. Guzzetta of the Firm's San Francisco office, Payal Mehra, the Senior Director of Privacy of RingCentral; and Rick Arney, Boardmember of Californians for Consumer Privacy and co-Author of the California Consumer Privacy Act.  A… Read More

In DiNaples v. MRS BPO, LLC, No. 18-2972, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 23937 (3d Cir. Aug. 12, 2019), the Court of Appeals extended its Douglass decision to QR codes. There is no dispute that that provision plainly prohibits the QR code. Still, as other courts have observed, § 1692f(8) is rather expansive when read literally. It would seemingly prohibit including… Read More

In Fay v. Showcase Motors, No. 78111-1-I, 2019 Wash. App. LEXIS 2074 (Ct. App. Aug. 12, 2019), the Washington Court of Appeal found that the trial court erred in granted summary judgment to a car dealer on a consumer’s claim that the dealer misrepresented the down payment required to purchase a Shelby Mustang. We conclude the trial court erred in… Read More

In Gentleman v. Massachussetts Higher Educ. Assistance Corp., No. 16-cv-03096, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 135684 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 12, 2019), Judge Coleman granted summary judgment against a TCPA plaintiff because calls were not placed using an ATDS. Delta contends that summary judgment in their favor is warranted because there is no evidence to establish that Delta used an automatic telephone… Read More

It seems like an argument down the rabbit hole, but in Lavallee v. Med-1 Sols., LLC, No. 17-3244, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 23664, at *11-15 (7th Cir. Aug. 8, 2019), the Court of Appeal found that privately-linked debt collection e-mails were not collection communications, disagreeing with the debt collector's argument that its e-mails were, in fact, collection communications.   Huh? Everyone… Read More

In Anderson v. Kimpton Hotel & Rest. Grp., LLC, No. 19-cv-01860-MMC, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133869, at *13-14 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 8, 2019), Judge Chesney dismissed a data breach claim under California's data breach statute, Civil Code 1798.81.5.  The facts were as follows: In their complaint, plaintiffs [*2]  allege "Kimpton uses an online reservation system that facilitates the booking of hotel… Read More