Litigation Developments

Individual Employs New Small Business Bankruptcy Law to Modify MortgageSmall businesses often struggle to reorganize in bankruptcy. To address this issue, Congress passed the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (the SBRA). The SBRA took effect in February 2020 and makes small business bankruptcies faster and less expensive.

The recent case of In re Ventura, 2020 WL 1867898 (E.D.N.Y. Apr. 10, 2020) addresses

Eleventh Circuit Endorses Narrow Definition of TCPA Autodialer Creating Circuit SplitOn January 27, 2020, a federal court of appeals issued a significant decision interpreting the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (commonly referred to as the “TCPA”) in a way that limits the expansive potential liability companies face under the statute. In Glasser v. Hilton Grand Vacations Company, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh

Supreme Court Holds That an Order on a Motion for Relief from Stay Is a Final, Appealable OrderIn a unanimous opinion released last week, the Supreme Court provided guidance as to how to determine the finality of an order in a bankruptcy case for purposes of an appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 158(a). The Court held that the adjudication of a creditor’s motion for relief from stay is properly considered a discrete

The Split Widens: Third Circuit Joins Minority View Regarding Whether Secured Creditor Has Affirmative Obligation to Return Collateral to Debtor Upon Bankruptcy FilingThe circuit courts continue to wrestle over the duties imposed by the Bankruptcy Code’s automatic stay on creditors concerning turnover of a debtor’s impounded vehicle. Is a creditor required to automatically turn over the vehicle as soon as the bankruptcy petition is filed, or can it retain possession while awaiting an order of the bankruptcy

Navigating ADA Compliance Issues in an Online WorldThe landscape remains murky as to whether and how Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to websites. As the financial services industry moves increasingly and inexorably from a “bricks and mortar” presence to a virtual environment, these issues are likely to only become more prominent. With differing authority from

Stay of Litigation and Compliance Date Continued in Payday Lending Rule LawsuitFollowing the status report filed last week by the parties involved in the lawsuit challenging the CFPB’s Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans Rule, the Texas district court faced with the case ordered that the stay of litigation and the stay of the compliance date for the rule’s payment provisions are continued. The

Big Picture Loans Lands Big Win for Tribal Lenders in Sovereign Immunity CaseIn a recent decision by the Fourth Circuit, Big Picture Loans, LLC, an online lender owned and operated by the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, a federally recognized Indian tribe (“Tribe”), and Ascension Technologies, LLC, the Tribe’s management and consultant company successfully established that they are each arms of the Tribe

Student Loan Servicers' Fight over Federal Preemption of State Regulation of May End Up in the Supreme CourtIn courts across the country, servicers are facing off against states and borrowers over the extent to which federal laws preempt state regulation of federal student loan servicers. Numerous states have stepped up their enforcement activity against student loan servicers and begun enacting new laws aimed at regulating student loan servicing, partially in response to

First Federal Legislation Proposed Relating to Protection of BiometricsAmidst privacy concerns and booming technological innovation, Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) have introduced a bill proposed as the “Commercial Facial Recognition Privacy Act of 2019” (CFRPA) targeting arguably the most “personal” biometric identifier—our face. While several states have enacted legislation relating to protection of biometric identifiers, this is the