The Alabama Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Coan v. Championship Property, LLC has significant implications for mortgage lenders, servicers, and foreclosure sale purchasers. The decision settles a contested issue: May trial courts require borrowers to make escrow-style payments pending a final judgment in a foreclosure or eviction dispute? Although the full extent of the ruling
“Although there may be other constitutional checks on Congress’ authority to create and fund an administrative agency, specifying the source and purpose is all the control the Appropriations Clause requires.” With these words, seven members of the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding mechanism and forestalled the possibility that
In its recent opinion in Raymond James & Associates Inc. v. Jalbert (In re German Pellets Louisiana LLC), 23-30040, 2024 WL 339101 (5th Cir. Jan. 30, 2024), the Fifth Circuit held that a confirmed bankruptcy plan enjoined a party from asserting certain indemnification counterclaims against a plan trustee because the party did not
In a less-than-thousand-word opinion, the Fourth District Court of Appeal of Florida put foreclosure cases across Florida in jeopardy. Namely, in all foreclosure cases in which a borrower is deceased, unless the legal representative of the borrower’s estate is joined as a defendant — as opposed to a guardian ad litem or the heirs of
The Alabama Supreme Court recently issued a major published decision on circumstances in which a residential borrower can challenge a mortgage foreclosure sale. In Littlefield v. Smith, the court elevated the bona fide purchaser doctrine to central importance, holding that it limits the grounds for borrowers to bring many post-sale challenges if a third
The Supreme Court has asked the solicitor general to weigh in on an issue that could affect lenders and borrowers alike: whether the National Bank Act (NBA) trumps state laws that require lenders to pay interest on mortgage escrow accounts. The request, which follows the Supreme Court’s previous denial of a request to review a
Less than three years after the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed the CFPB’s appointment structure, the bureau again finds itself before the Court in what could prove the most consequential case for the financial services industry in years. Four months ago, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in Community Financial Services Association of
In-house counsel faced with a data breach encounter a difficult balancing act. On the one hand, it is critical to determine the cause of the breach and generate a plan to bolster security systems to reduce the likelihood of similar occurrences in the future. On the other hand, these same reports, usually performed by third-party
In a ruling that will provide guidance on when lenders must raise a foreclosure counterclaim in a borrower lawsuit, the South Carolina Court of Appeals in Deutsche Bank National Trust Company v. Estate of Patricia Ann Owens Houck has held that foreclosure was not a compulsory counterclaim in a borrower’s suit alleging errors in origination.
The Eleventh Circuit’s far-reaching decision in Hunstein v. Preferred Collection and Management Services, Inc. — which we previously covered on this blog — continues to raise questions for the wide range of industries that fall within the FDCPA’s definition of “debt collectors.” To put it briefly, the Eleventh Circuit held that a debt collector violates