In Salls v. Digital Federal Credit Union, 2018 WL 5846820 (D.Mass., 2018), Judge Hillman allowed an EFTA claim to proceed against a Credit Union. Brandi Salls (“Plaintiff”) brings a putative class action challenging the practice of Digital Federal Credit Union and DOES 1 through 100 (“Defendant”) to charge overdraft fees when members accounts have sufficient funds to cover the transactions.… Read More

In Clark v. FDS Bank, 2018 WL 5830421, at *1–5 (M.D.Fla., 2018), Judge Mendoza ordered sweeping file-review discovery against a TCPA Defendant, expressing skepticism of the Defendant's claim that a file-by-file review would be required and the expense would be cost-prohibitive. Plaintiff wants to know the following information about collection calls made by Defendants during a four year period: (1)… Read More

In Rivera v. Allstate Insurance Company, 2018 WL 5624603 (7th Cir. 2018), the Plaintiffs obtained a multi-million dollar award against their former employers in connection with their termination.  The 7th Circuit reversed their defamation claim because they failed to prove special damages entitling them to the award.  As to their FCRA claim, the Plaintiff’s claimed that the Employers violated 15… Read More

In Thornton v. Equifax, 2018 WL 5792816 (M.D.Ga. 2018), Judge Land found that the FCRA pre-empted all common-law state law claims. The facts were as follows: Thornton filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. He received a discharge of his debts on February 7, 2017, including his delinquent accounts with Kinetic. Thornton alleges that although Kinetic received notice of his discharge from… Read More

In Gibbons v. Weltman, Weinberg, & Reis, Co., LPA, 2018 WL 5720749 (E.D. Pa. 2018), Judge Slomsky certified an FDCPA class over objections that the class size compared to the FDCPA’s class action cap could reduce the class members’ individual recovery to such an extent that class certification was not the superior method of adjudicating the mass action. Based on… Read More

In McRobie v. Credit Protection Association, 2018 WL 5608121 (E.D.Pa. 2018), Judge Leeson held that a red, white, and blue texted envelope that said “official notice” on it did not constitute misrepresenting that the communication was from a government official under the FDCPA. Case law interpreting § 1692e(9) is sparse. The parties cite no Third Circuit precedent interpreting the provision;… Read More

In Oya v. Wells Fargo Bank, 2018 WL 5761486 (S.D.Cal. 2018), Judge Huff imposed a increased standard under the CCRAA than mere inaccuracy, and dismissed the Plaintiff’s credit reporting case. The facts were as follows. On June 15, 2018, Plaintiff Aki T. Oya filed for bankruptcy protection. (Id. ¶ 36.) Plaintiffs allege that Wells Fargo and Select had notice of… Read More

In Fulton, D.D.S., v. Enclarity, Inc., No. 17-1380, 2018 WL 5726133 (6th Cir. Nov. 2, 2018), the Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit concluded that a fax sent to the dentists' office could constitute an “advertisement” that subjected the fax to the TCPA. Fulton alleged that the fax was a pretext to obtain both “participation in Defendants’ proprietary database”… Read More

In Lafferty v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 2018 WL 3470748, at *2 (Cal.App. 3 Dist., 2018), the Court of Appeal held: We conclude the Laffertys are limited under the plain meaning of the Holder Rule to recovering no more than the $68,000 they paid under terms of the loan with Wells Fargo. Consistent with Lafferty I, we continue to “hold—to… Read More

In Duncan v. Asset Recovery Specialists, Inc., Case No. 17-2598, 2018 WL 5623325 (7th Cir. Oct. 31, 2018), the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a repossession agency’s enforcement of an administrative fee did not trigger the FDPCA because it was not acting as the automobile finance company’s agent in doing so. The record on summary judgment… Read More