In Dzakula v. McHugh, No. 11-16404, 2013 WL 6483614 (9th Cir. Dec. 11, 2013), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of an action on the ground of judicial estoppel where the plaintiff failed to identify the action as an asset on her bankruptcy schedules. The plaintiff did not amend the bankruptcy schedules until after the defendant filed a motion to dismiss, leading the court to infer that her omission had not been inadvertent. Distinguishing its recent decision Ah Quin v. County of Kauai Department of Transportation, 733 F.3d 267 (9th Cir. 2013), the ...
In Empire Bank v. Dumond, No. 13-CV-0388-CVE-PJC, 2013 WL 6238605 (N.D. Okla. Dec. 3, 2013), the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma recently held that the Dodd-Frank amendment to the statute of limitation for Equal Credit Opportunity Act ("ECOA") claims does not apply retroactively. While the court held that the statute of limitation barred spousal guarantors' ECOA counterclaim, the counterclaim was allowed to proceed because it was asserted under a recoupment theory. Empire Bank obtained guaranties from various individuals, entities, and spousal ...
In White v. Sherman Financial Group, LLC, No. 3:12-cv-404, 2013 WL 5936679, 1 (E.D. Tenn. Nov. 4, 2013), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee recently denied the plaintiff's partial motion for summary judgment and granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants on all but one the plaintiff's Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ("FDCPA") claims and, in the process, rendered a significant decision regarding the interplay between the FDCPA and filing state collection actions in Tennessee. In White, the plaintiff alleged the defendants, Sherman Financial ...
In Henning v. Wachovia Mortg., FSB, No. 11-11428-WGY, 2013 WL 5229837 (D. Mass. Sept. 17, 2013), the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts recently agreed with numerous decisions of other courts finding that the preemption provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act do not apply retroactively. Plaintiff, a mortgagor, filed suit against Wachovia Mortgage raising a number of claims based on Wachovia's purported wrongful conduct in providing him with a subprime stated-income loan knowing that he would likely default. After removal, Wachovia moved to dismiss based on ...
In Zevon v. Department Stores Nat'l Bank, No. 12 Civ 7799(PAC), 2013 WL 5903024 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 4, 2013), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently held that the increased statutory cap on class action damages under the Truth-in-Lending Act ("TILA") became effective January 21, 2013, rather than upon the Dodd-Frank's enactment. Plaintiff Marcy Zevon filed suit against Department Stores National Bank ("DSNB") alleging DSNB violated TILA and Regulation Z by failing to include the full text of Regulation Z's model billing rights notice in monthly ...
In Shadrach Lewis v. Marinosci Law Group, P.C., No. 13-61676-CIV, 2013 WL 5789183 (S.D. Fla. Oct. 29, 2013), the Southern District of Florida denied a defendant's motion to dismiss and rendered an important decision regarding a notice provision contained in a foreclosure proceeding as being a potential violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ("FDCPA"). Specifically, the plaintiff alleged that the notice provision, as required by the FDCPA, was nevertheless a violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1692e generally as well as § 1692e(10), in particular, as the statement relating to ...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently held that waiving any and all claims as part of loan restructuring agreements applied to a claim under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act ("ECOA"). In Ballard v. Bank of America, N.A., --- F.3d ---, 2013 WL 5814757 (4th Cir. 2013), the plaintiff filed suit alleging that the lender violated the ECOA by requiring her to guarantee loans to her husband's business. The plaintiff's husband obtained a business loan and, after defaulting on the loan, sought to restructure the debt. The lender required the plaintiff to guarantee the ...
On July 10, 2013, the CFPB issued mortgage rules under Regulation Z and Regulation X pursuant to its authority under the Dodd-Frank Act. The CFPB further amended the mortgage rules on September 15, 2013 and October 1, 2013. The result is a super regulation which keeps the original framework of Regulations X and Z, but adds entirely new provisions addressing eight major topics. In this article, David A. Elliott discusses the new regulations and the possible effect on mortgage litigation. You can find a copy of the article by clicking here. For more information on consumer finance ...
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York recently held that tax liens, which included municipal water and sewer charges, were not debts under the FDCPA. Additionally, the court found that efforts to foreclose tax liens constituted the enforcement of a security interest, which was not subject to the FDCPA.
In Boyd v. J.E. Robert Co., No. 05-CV-2455, 2013 WL 5436969 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 27, 2013), plaintiffs filed a putative class action alleging violations of the FDCPA. After the District Court granted defendants' motions for summary judgment, plaintiffs filed a ...