On Jan. 8, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision regarding an important procedural issue under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). In Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer & White Sales, Inc., No. 17-1272, it held that under the FAA, courts must enforce provisions in arbitration agreements delegating threshold questions of whether claims are subject to arbitration to the arbitrator. In so doing, the Court overruled a rule that allowed federal courts to…

Currently before the U.S. Supreme Court is whether entities conducting nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings are subject to the requirements of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692 et seq. (FDCPA).[1] Whether entities conducting nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings are subject to the requirements of the FDCPA has divided the courts for many years. The Supreme Court’s ruling on this issue could finally provide the mortgage industry and lower courts with guidance as to the proper…

On Nov. 13, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Carlton & Harris Chiropractic, Inc. v. PDR Network, LLC, after the Fourth Circuit vacated a lower court ruling regarding what constitutes an “unsolicited advertisement” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). No. 17-1705, 2018 WL 3127423, at *1 (2018). The Supreme Court is set to review whether the Hobbs Act requires district courts to accept the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) legal interpretations of the…

Recently proposed IRS regulations materially change the way stock and assets of foreign corporations that are “controlled foreign corporations” (CFCs) can be used to support debt of U.S. affiliates. In the commercial lending market, this has the potential to impact long-standing approaches to obtaining guarantees and collateral from CFCs.  In some cases, this may lower a company’s cost of borrowing or provide additional collateral support, particularly in asset-backed/borrowing base loan structures.…

What constitutes an autodialer or “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is in flux. Under the statute, an “automatic telephone dialing system” is defined as “equipment that has the capacity” to “store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator,” and “to dial such numbers.” 47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(1).…

Jay Clayton, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission), made clear back in December 2017 that his Commission was concerned with the proliferation of crypto-assets. The SEC defines crypto-assets as “crypto-currency (e.g., Bitcoin), initial coin offering (ICO), distributed ledger technology, blockchain and/or any related products and pooled investment vehicles.” Clayton cautioned both retail investors and professional market participants to perform their diligence, including evaluating the securities law implications of transactions, on any…

On July 31, 2018, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that it will begin accepting applications for special purpose national bank charters from financial technology companies. This “fintech charter” is limited to institutions that do not accept deposits. The fintech charter was initially unveiled on December 2, 2016, by prior Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry. The concept was that fintech firms not linked to national banks were forced to…