A&B Abstract: When litigating in federal court, government agencies are not exempt from the rules of discovery. The Eleventh Circuit reminded the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) of this in its recent decision CFPB v. Brown, et al., No. 21-14468 (11th Cir. 2023). There, the Court affirmed a district court’s sanctions order dismissing the CFPB’s claims […]
Case law
New York Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act Curtails Servicers’ Options
A&B ABstract: Effective on approval by Governor Kathy Hochul on December 30, 2022, New York Assembly Bill 7737b – the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act (the “Act”) became law. The Act is signifcant because it reverses judicial precedent that permitted a lender, after default, to undo the acceleration of a mortgage and stop the running of […]
District Court Dismisses CFPB’s Redlining Case Against Townstone Financial
A&B ABstract: On Friday, in the CFPB v. Townstone Financial fair lending case, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed with prejudice the complaint filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), holding that the plain language of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) does not prohibit discrimination against prospective applicants. […]
CFPB Petitions High Court to Consider Decision Holding Funding Structure Unconstitutional
A&B Abstract: On November 14, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in connection with the Fifth Circuit’s recent decision in Community Financial, which held that the CFPB’s funding structure violated the Constitution’s Appropriations Clause. (For a full discussion of the Community Financial decision, click here.) The […]
The Hunstein Case: Upending Servicing and Debt Collection?
A&B Abstract: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, covering Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, recently decided in Hunstein v. Preferred Collection and Management, Inc., that a debt collector’s communication with its third-party vendor violated section 1692c(b) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), which prohibits a debt collector for communicating, in connection […]