by Deepak Gupta In today's Los Angeles Times, consumer columnist David Lazarus takes a look at the practice of for-profit debt collectors renting out the seal and letterhead of local California prosecutors — the target of a new class-action lawsuit that our firm filed yesterday in federal court in San Francisco. The practice was condemned in […]
Author Archives: PC Litigation Group Office Assistant
by Deepak Gupta Since its inception, this blog has covered the pernicious practice of prosecutors who rent out their name and authority to private for-profit debt collectors. As readers may recall, these debt collectors use official-looking letterhead to threaten consumers who have accidentally bounced checks for household purchases — consumers are told they'll face criminal […]
by Deepak Gupta Perhaps betting that the third time's a charm, the Supreme Court this morning once again granted a petition over whether disparate-impact claims — based on seemingly neutral practices with discriminatory effects — are cognizable under the Fair Housing Act. The case, Texas Deparatment of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities […]
John Oliver's comedy news-in-review show on HBO, "Last Week Tonight," had an excellent segment on payday loans last night. The show was well researched and probably exposed many people to these issues for the first time. Among other things, it covers the payday industry's reliance on recidivism (citing Center for Responsible Lending research and an […]
by Deepak Gupta When Roz Terrill wrote a $41 check at the local Goodwill store to buy clothes for her two special-needs children, she had no idea it would lead to threats of criminal prosecution against her. Because of a banking mix-up, Roz’s check did not clear. Months later, she received a letter that looked […]
by Deepak Gupta The payday lenders' main trade association, the Community Financial Services Association, brought an unusual lawsuit this week against three federal regulators — the Fed, the FDIC, and the OCC — in an effort to challenge a controversial federal initiative known as "Operation Choke Point." The case was filed in federal district court […]
Co-blogger Paul Bland, the new Executive Director of Public Justice, was recently interviewed by Media Matters. In an engaging interview in his office Paul discusses his singular career as a champion for consumer rights, the importance of class actions as a means of challenging corporate wrondoing, and the pro-corporate bent of the Roberts Court. It's a […]
by Deepak Gupta Despite an unusually full-throated public-relations campaign and amicus effort by the tort-reform lobby, the Supreme Court this morning turned aside three petitions for certiorari from the Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits concerning the propriety of class certification in cases alleging that moldy washing machines sold to consumers were defective. Today's denial is […]
by Ed Mierzwinski (guest post) I testified Monday at a Senate Banking hearing on the Target breach. The chair of the subcommittee, Mark Warner, indicated support for the longtime consumer-group position that consumer debit-card liability should be made equal to the far more more consumer-friendly credit-card liability. My own blog post has more. My testimony […]
Does federal law require debt collectors to give consumers the right to make oral disputes (as the Second and Ninth Circuits have held), or may debt collectors insist that any disputes be made in writing (as the Third Circuit has held)? Today, the Fourth Circuit issued a short published opinion agreeing with the Second and […]