Beyond the Financial Services Modernization Act (also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act), which generally provides that a financial institution may not disclose a customer’s nonpublic personal information unless it falls under one of the general exceptions of 15 U.S.C. § 6802(e) (e.g., consent of the customer or compliance with a properly authorized civil subpoena), the failure to domesticate a subpoena remains one of the most utilized arguments in motions to quash.…

Takeaway: The U.S. Supreme Court ever so slightly trimmed removal rules under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) last week in Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. v. Jackson, No. 17-1471. In an opinion by Justice Thomas, the Court held that neither CAFA nor the general removal statute (28 U.S.C. § 1441(a)) permit removal by a third-party counterclaim defendant. That is, a party brought into the suit through a claim filed by the original defendant cannot remove…

The California Homeowner Bill of Rights (“HOBR”), codified in Sections 2920.5 et seq. of the Civil Code, became effective January 1, 2013. The statutes impose certain pre-foreclosure loss mitigation duties on mortgage servicers as well as trustees and deed of trust beneficiaries. Certain provisions of the HOBR were repealed as of January 1, 2018. While the legislature enacted new statutes to replace repealed provisions, not all requirements survived the January 2018 enactments, and expired as…

The Ninth Circuit recently held a company vicariously liable for the actions of a downstream vendor of text message and telephone marketing activities. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is increasingly being used to bring lawsuits with potential statutory damages totaling millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars. Companies should consider due diligence and vendor oversight protocols as counter-measures to limit the risk of liability for digital advertising and text marketing activities. Continue Reading…

Mortgage service companies (and their lawyers) got a big boost on March 20, 2019, when the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous opinion in Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, holding that a business engaged in no more than nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings is not a “debt collector” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA or Act), except for the limited purpose of §1692f(6). This decision will prevent needless and unfair litigation by borrowers seeking to…

Companies whose primary business purpose is to collect debts—whether or not they actually participate in the debt collection activities—suffered a setback recently. Despite a debt purchaser’s not having any direct contact with the consumer or even approving the debt collection agency’s communications with the consumer, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit found the debt purchaser to be a “debt collector” under the terms of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and…

Many loan servicers face the daunting task of issuing affidavits for their litigation cases across the United States. For the sake of efficiency, a loan servicer may wonder whether it would be worth it to streamline the affidavit process by using uniform acknowledgment language. However, research suggests that any alteration of an affidavit that replaces the traditional oath or “sworn to statement” with acknowledgment-like language is contrary to both New York statutory and case law…