The Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 (DIDA) sets a national standard for interest rates that state-chartered banks may charge on loans, preempting state laws that cap interest at lower rates. The statute expressly authorizes states to opt out of the national standard for “loans made in such State.” In 2023, Colorado announced […]
Author Archives: Adam Pulver
Last year, four consumers who were parties to arbitration agreements in which the sole choice of forum for dispute resolution was the American Arbitration Association sued the company under the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust acts, the Arizona Constitution, and state antitrust and unfair and deceptive practices laws. They alleged monopolistic practices, and that “the AAA […]
New York’s General Business Law section 399-zzz, enacted in 2011, prohibits businesses from charging extra fees to pay by mail or to receive a billing statement — but does not prohibit such businesses from ” offering consumers a credit or other incentive to elect a specific payment or billing option.” Customers of TD Bank sued […]
Touting it as containing “the strongest protections in the country against debt collector harassment,” New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) yesterday published its “Stopping Harassment and Intimidation and Ensuring Lawful Debt (SHIELD) Collection Rule.” According to DCWP, the rule “allow[s] New Yorkers to dispute their debt at any time, further limiting […]
As part of its campaign to make America cruel again, the Trump Administration is reportedly considering an executive order that would require banks to verify citizenship information of current and future customers. The reports do not indicate the legal authority that the Administration would rely upon, or what problem this requirement would be addressing. Such […]
Several states have adopted laws creating Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing systems for certain residential energy and home improvement projects. Under these programs, a homeowner borrows money to finance the project, and the loan is repaid through an assessment on the homeowner’s property tax bill. The lender’s lien generally has priority over mortgage liens, […]
In Oliver v. Navy Federal Credit Union, decided today, the Fourth Circuit clarified both the procedure and substantive standards that govern when defendants ask a court to deny class certification before discovery. Oliver was a putative class action challenging Navy Federal’s underwriting process for loan applicants as racially discriminatory. Navy Federal moved to dismiss under Rule […]
In October, I posted about the Fifth Circuit’s curious grant of rehearing en banc in a challenge to the Department of Transportation’s 2024 Rule requiring airlines to disclose ancillary fees. The panel had left a stay of the rule in place, directing the agency to address certain notice and comment issues on remand–but at the […]
Yesterday, the California Supreme Court issued a decision in Fuentes v. Empire Nissan, in which it addressed how the “tiny and unreadable print” in which a contract (here, an arbitration agreement) is printed plays into a court’s unconscionability analysis. The court held “that a contract’s format generally is irrelevant to the substantive unconscionability analysis, which […]
There are many decisions addressing whether website interactions constitute a valid and binding contract–frequently, one to arbitrate. Under California law, “scrollwrap” or “clickwrap” offers, which require a user to affirmatively agree to terms and conditions after being presented with them, are are generally held to create enforceable contracts. On the other hand, “browsewrap” offers, where […]