Some of the little work that the Administration has authorized the CFPB to undertake has been motions to withdraw amicus briefs filed in pending cases. In one case, though, a judge has in part rejected such a motion. In the case, Salom v. Nationstar Mortgage, the CFPB had filed an amicus brief explaining “explains why […]
Author Archives: Adam Pulver
In Pickett v. City of Cleveland, the defendant appealed the district court’s certification of a class of Black homeowners or residents who had been obligated to pay certain debts to a water utility that were secured by their property, pursuant to both Rule 23(b)(2) and Rule 23(b)(3). A panel of the Sixth Circuit unanimously affirmed the […]
In 2008, Puerto Rico adopted a law prohibiting merchants from charging credit card surcharges, while allowing merchants to offer cash discounts. In 2013, the legislature dropped the provision allowing cash discounts, and the Puerto Rico Department of Consumer Affairs has since issued an interpretation that cash discounts are forbidden. A group of merchants sued, arguing […]
This week, the Senate advanced the GENIUS Act, which would establish a (too-weak) regulatory framework for “stablecoins” and other digital currency. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley has proposed an amendment to that bill which would prohibit credit card interest rates above 10%. The banking industry is not pleased.
On May 8 and 9, President Trump attempted to fire the three Democratic members of the Consumer Protection Safety Commission. Today, represented by my colleagues at Public Citizen, those commissioners filed suit asking that the purported terminations be set aside. The press release is available at https://www.citizen.org/news/trump-firing-consumer-product-safety-commissioners-was-unlawful/ and the complaint is available at https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/ECF-1-Complaint-3.pdf.
The FTC currently has only three commissioners, all of whom are Republicans. There has been significant concern that the remaining commissioners will take a lax view as to both the agency’s rulemaking and enforcement authority. Nonetheless, today the Commission, with only 2 Commissioners participating due to a recusal, announced the filing of a complaint against […]
In an opinion issued today, the en banc Ninth Circuit held that Shopify, an e-commerce platform, could be sued in California based on allegations that it had installed tracking software on a California consumer’s device. The court concluded that personal jurisdiction could be exercised constitutionally, as Shopify’s conduct was expressly aimed “at California through its extraction, maintenance, […]
DOJ has announced the launch of an “Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force to advocate for the elimination of anticompetitive state and federal laws and regulations that undermine free market competition and harm consumers, workers, and businesses,” lead by the DOJ Antitrust Division. The task force is asking members of the public to submit comments as to […]
In 2022, in Ewing v. Med-1 Solutions, LLC, the Seventh Circuit held that a consumer is harmed by a credit report’s failure to note that a given debt is dispute–finding that it impacted the consumer’s creditworthiness and impacted their reputation, and thus that a consumer has standing to pursue a claim based on a debt […]
At the end of February, the Ninth Circuit issued its decision in Six v. IQ Data International, where it reversed a district court’s dismissal of an FDCPA claim for lack of standing. The plaintiff’s claim was based on a violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(a)(2), which prohibits a debt collector from directly communicating with a […]