The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed two bills that would reform the standards for bringing federal class actions and raise the bar for keeping lawsuits in state courts. The first bill, the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017 (HR 985), would impose several new requirements on class action and multidistrict litigation proceedings in federal courts.  Among other things, the new requirements would include: Class action plaintiffs seeking to recover…

The Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) operates under a corporate charter, which authorizes Fannie Mae “to sue and to be sued, and to complain and to defend, in any court of competent jurisdiction, State or Federal.” 12 U.S.C. § 1723a(a). On January 18, the U.S. Supreme Court held that this “sue-and-be-sued” clause does not independently grant federal courts subject-matter jurisdiction over all cases involving Fannie Mae.  Instead, the Court (in Lightfoot v. Cendant Mortgage Corporation) held that…

On November 3, in a case that was closely watched by industry participants, the Florida Supreme Court held that a mortgagor’s default that occurs after the dismissal of a prior foreclosure action in which the loan payments were accelerated resets the five-year statute of limitations for filing a subsequent foreclosure suit.  In Bartram v. U.S. Bank, N.A., the court explained that dismissal of the initial foreclosure action has the effect of returning the parties…

New regulations under the federal Military Lending Act (“MLA”) that become effective next week will prohibit consumer loans to covered US Service members if those loans have a “military annual percentage rate” (“MAPR”) greater than 36 percent. The Defense Department’s regulations will impose that MAPR limit on additional types of consumer credit transactions (beyond just payday, vehicle title, and tax refund anticipation loans) to active duty members of the armed forces and their spouses/dependents. The regulations will also…