Tonya M. Esposito

Connect: Read more about Tonya M. Esposito
Firm/Organization: Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Blogs: BioLoquitur, Consumer Class Defense Blog, The Blunt Truth

Latest Articles

On January 8, 2019, Judge Grasz, writing for an Eighth Circuit panel, reiterated the need for district courts to determine Article III standing before approving class settlements. The appeal stemmed from a putative class action wherein U.S. District Court Judge Nanette Laughrey decided to enforce the parties’ tentative settlement agreement without first deciding the standing issue. Plaintiff filed the class action suit in Missouri state court in February 2016 alleging that SC Data Center (SC…
Cannabidiol (CBD) competed with Vitamin C as a top ingredient in new cosmetic products this past year, with promises of having anti-inflammatory effects and other healing properties. Amid the hype, at the end of 2018, the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, P.L. 115-334 (the “2018 Farm Bill”) was signed into law, changing the marketing of hemp and derivatives of cannabis and further removing hemp from the Controlled Substances Act thereby making it no longer an illegal substance under…
On July 6, 2018, Leandra English, through her attorney via Twitter, announced she would be resigning from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”). In so doing, Ms. English is also dropping her lawsuit against the CFPB in which she challenged Mick Mulvaney’s status as the acting director and claimed that she was the true acting director. Ms. English attributed her resignation decision to President Trump’s nomination of Kathy Kraninger, a White House aide, to…
On June 25, 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approved Epidiolex (cannabidiol), the first marijuana derived drug for use in the United States, to treat two rare forms of epilepsy. This decision for the FDA could have sweeping effects for the marijuana industry. While the FDA has previously approved drugs comprising synthetic (manufactured) cannabinoids, this is the first FDA approved drug comprised of an active ingredient derived from marijuana. Even with FDA approval, further…
On June 25, 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approved Epidiolex (cannabidiol), the first marijuana derived drug for use in the United States, to treat two rare forms of epilepsy. This decision for the FDA could have sweeping effects for the marijuana industry. While the FDA has previously approved drugs comprising synthetic (manufactured) cannabinoids, this is the first FDA approved drug comprised of an active ingredient derived from marijuana. Even with FDA approval, further…
On June 21, 2018, in deciding a motion to dismiss a complaint brought the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”)and the State of New York, Judge Loretta Preska of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held that the CFPB’s structure is unconstitutional. Previously the D.C. Circuit, sitting en banc in PHH Corp. v. CFPB, 881 F.3d 75 (D.C. Cir. 2018), had held that Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act, which “established…
The battle for control of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) raged on this Thursday during oral argument before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in English v. Trump. All three panel judges seemed skeptical of English’s claim that she should be acting director of the CFPB, but two judges questioned whether President Trump could appoint Mulvaney as acting director when a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act states that…
In response to “the void left by the Trump Administration’s pullback of the [CFPB],” the New Jersey Attorney General recently announced that Paul R. Rodriguez will be serve at the Director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, the state’s lead consumer protection agency.  Mr. Rodriguez will serve as the Acting Director of the Division beginning on June 1, 2018, until he is confirmed by the New Jersey Senate.  This appointment fulfills one of…
Seyfarth Synopsis: One court upholds protection of Dodd-Frank limiting the President’s removal authority, while another court stifles a challenge against Mulvaney serving as acting Director of CFPB. Last week, the Trump Administration experienced mixed results in the ongoing litigation over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”). As we’ve mentioned in our prior publications, there are several actions pending that involve the President’s authority to control the CFPB. The first action discussed below, which had…
On January 23, 2018, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (“CFPB”) Acting Director, Mick Mulvaney, issued a mission statement to the CFPB redirecting the agency’s mission and focus. Mulvaney emphasized that the law mandates the enforcement of consumer protection laws and that, although things would be different under new leadership, the CFPB will continue to fulfill its mandate. Mulvaney made clear that he did not see the CFPB as the “good guys” out to fight the…