On March 2, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in Hawkins v. Cmty. Bank of Raymore, 761 F.3d 937 (8th Cir. 2014), cert. granted, No. 14-520, 2015 U.S. LEXIS 1635 (U.S. Mar. 2, 2015)—on appeal from the Eighth Circuit—to decide whether certain guarantors are excluded from the definition of “applicant” under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), 15 U.S.C. § 1691 et seq., and whether the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) had the authority under the ECOA to include certain guarantors as “applicants” in Regulation B, 12 C.F.R. pt. 1002 et seq. A decision by the Court could resolve a circuit court split between the Sixth and Eighth Circuits.
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