About Alan
Alan practices in the firm’s Financial Services and Banking and Commercial Litigation sections. Prior to law school, he was employed at a large finance corporation in its commercial lending division. Directly after law school, Alan spent two years as Counsel to U.S. Senator Howell Heflin in Washington, D.C.
Alan has experience in civil litigation in the areas of financial services, securities fraud, real estate, labor and employment, professional negligence, governmental liability and product liability. The majority of Alan’s financial services industry practice is focused on representing clients in both individual and class/mass actions, involving a wide array of state common law and statutory claims, as well as various federal statutory violations, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA), the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the Truth In Lending Act (TILA), the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), Telecommunications Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA).
Alan has extensive experience enforcing arbitration provisions and has arbitrated numerous consumer finance cases before American Arbitration Association and JAMS. Alan is also active in representing both brokers/dealers and registered representatives in the securities industry before judicial tribunals, as well as the NASD/FINRA Dispute Resolution.
Alan serves as a firm representative to the American Financial Services Association (AFSA) and also co-authors Burr & Forman’s Consumer Finance Monthly Litigation Update. Alan is a member of the Conference On Consumer Finance Law, the Business Law (Consumer Financial Services Committee) of the American Bar Association, the Alabama Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, the State Bar of California, District of Columbia Bar and the State Bar of Georgia.
Alan is admitted to practice before the State and U.S. District Courts in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and California. Alan is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth, Sixth, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits.
Sample Reported Decisions:
• Frazier v. CitiFinancial Corp., LLC, 604 F.3d 1313 (11th Cir. 2010) (Affirming district’s courts confirmation of arbitration award and holding, in a matter of first impression, 9 U.S.C. §§ 10 and 11 provide the exclusive grounds for vacatur or modification of an arbitration award)
• CitiFinancial Corporation, LLC v. Peoples, 973 So. 2d 332(Ala. 2007) (Reversing trial court’s denial of defendant lender’s motion to compel arbitration and holding, in a matter of first impression, issues of arbitrability are to be decided by the arbitrator under agreement that incorporates Commercial Rules of the American Arbitration Association)
• CitiFinancial Mortgage Company, Inc. v. Alpha Smith, 2007 WL 2409520 (M.D. Ala. Aug. 20, 2007) (Granting summary judgment on lender’s petition for order compelling arbitration pursuant to Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 3-4)
• Bonnie Smith v. First Family Financial Services, Inc., 436 F. Supp. 836 (S.D. Miss. 2006) (Granting defendant lender’s motion to compel arbitration, motion to dismiss and motion for summary judgment in consumer fraud case)
• Drag v. SouthTrust Bank, 2005 WL 1883241 (W.D.N.C. Aug. 4, 2005) (Granting defendants’ motion to reopen case, and pursuant to All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201, enjoining plaintiff from pursuing in arbitration claims against defendants that are barred by the doctrine of res judicata in securities fraud case)
Sample Published Articles:
Foti’s ‘Message’ Taken a Step Further in 11th Circuit, Consumer Financial Services Law Report, Dec. 2008.
Closing a Door But Opening a Window: Judicial Review of Arbitration Awards After Hall Street, Consumer Financial Services Law Report, Oct. 2008.
First FACTA Class Settlement Approved, Consumer Financial Services Law Report, Dec. 2007.
Same Song, Different Year— Attorneys Fees Still a Driving Force Behind Consumer Finance Litigation, The Conference on Consumer Finance Law’s Quarterly Report, Fall/Winter 2008.
Have Courts Shown a “Manifest Disregard” for “Hall Street Associates, LLC v. Mattel, Inc.?”, Banking & Financial Services Policy Report, May 2009.
Is the FDCPA’s Fee Shifting Provision of Any Use to Defendants?, Consumer Financial Services Law Report, July 2009.
11th Circuit Falls in Line with 8th and 9th: State Law Violations May Support FDCPA Claims, Consumer Financial Services Law Report, April 2010.
The End of the Bona Fide Error Defense for Mistake of Law? Analyzing the Supreme Court’s Decision in Jerman v. Carlisle, Consumer Financial Services Law Report, May 2010.