Available at www.burrcflblog.com, the blog is managed by 18 attorneys in Burr & Forman's Financial Services Litigation Practice. This launch follows the recent establishment of four other blogs by the firm, as well as a new website, which went live at the end of 2012.

 

"For the past several years, both federal and state courts around the country have been bombarded with lawsuits filed by consumers against a number of financial institutions, creditors and other related consumer finance producers and servicers," explained Alan Leeth, a partner and editor of the blog. "The governmental response has included increased enforcement of existing consumer finance laws, as well as statutory and regulatory changes, the most significant being Dodd-Frank. These changes have led to a great deal of uncertainty in the industry, and our goal for this blog is to provide information on federal and state law developments and clarity on recent opinions impacting the industry."

The CFL Blog will focus primarily on recently released federal court opinions addressing the fields of mortgage servicing, credit cards, auto finance, retail consumer loans, debt collection, and other consumer finance industries, with a spotlight on federal consumer protection statutes, including the Truth-in-Lending Act, Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, among others. The blog will also closely monitor recently released cases dealing with all provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) that may affect the consumer finance industry. State-specific case law, particularly in Burr & Forman's geographic footprint - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee - will be addressed as well.

Burr & Forman's Financial Services Litigation Practice serves as national litigation counsel for two of the top five financial institutions in the U.S. and as regional counsel for a number of others. The team defends banks, credit card issuers, mortgage originators, mortgage servicers, auto finance companies, and debt collection/debt buying professionals, in class, mass, and individual actions throughout the country. Burr & Forman's attorneys regularly defend clients against suits brought by various governmental entities.