Last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an advisory opinion on the attempted enforcement of time-barred alleged debt collection rights as to second mortgage loans. It is a violation of the Fair Debt...more
The regulatory authority of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) over the cryptocurrency industry has recently been challenged on a couple of fronts. One involves a lawsuit filed by the SEC against a Utah-based...more
If you thought we were finally done with indemnification litigation focused on residential mortgages originated before the financial crisis of 2007-2008, think again. Over the past year, the Federal Deposit Insurance...more
In February, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed amending the Federal Reserve Board’s Regulation Z with respect to the amount of fees that credit card issuers are permitted to charge their customers for...more
5/19/2023
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Cards ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Late Fees ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulation Z ,
SBREFA ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
On May 5, 2023, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the Crypto Regulation, Protection, Transparency, and Oversight (“CRPTO”) Act, which aims “to protect customers and investors in digital assets from fraudulent...more
5/12/2023
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Investment ,
Investor Protection ,
New York ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Stablecoins
Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it will hear the case of Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer and finally resolve the question of whether “tester” plaintiffs have standing to sue a hotel company that fails to...more
3/30/2023
/ Acheson Hotels LLC v Laufer ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Article III ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Failure to Accommodate ,
Public Accommodation ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
Statutory Violations ,
Title III ,
Website Accessibility ,
Websites
The recent surge in residential mortgage buyback demands by Freddie Mac, among others, has a number of industry analysts bracing for a new wave of indemnification claims and put-back attempts against correspondent lenders and...more
In a June 3, 2022 court filing, Kabbage, Inc. (doing business as KServicing), a fintech lender, disclosed that it is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) under the False Claims Act. The investigation,...more
Cryptocurrency companies face a steadily growing number of lawsuits, adding to a list of recent headaches for their industry. That list includes steep recent declines in investment value and a high probability of new...more
8/12/2022
/ Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
Fraud ,
Investment Products ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Securities Act ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
We’ve provided insights previously about increased regulatory and litigation activity related to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosures by companies to current and prospective investors. For those not yet...more
6/29/2022
/ American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Banks ,
Business Strategies ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Greenwashing ,
Investment
A staggering decline in value is not the only recent source of significant concern for cryptocurrency companies. In remarks made at the annual meeting of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) earlier this month,...more
The Special Purpose Acquisition Company (“SPAC”) market is facing both a new set of rules and amendments to rules already in place under the Securities Act of 1933 and Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Last month, the U.S....more
5/4/2022
/ Capital Markets ,
Capital Raising ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investment ,
Investment Company Act of 1940 ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Safe Harbors ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Securities Regulation ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a non-profit focused on fostering healthy communities, defines digital redlining as “major network providers systematically excluding low-income neighborhoods from broadband service –...more
4/13/2022
/ Broadband ,
Discrimination ,
Disparate Impact ,
Equal Access ,
FCC ,
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) ,
Internet ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
Low-Income Issues ,
Notice of Inquiry ,
Redlining ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rural Areas
It’s a situation that, at least theoretically, could happen many times every business day, all across the country, given how often businesses choose to have Delaware law apply to their contracts. A party (the seller or...more
3/18/2022
/ Breach of Contract ,
Business Disputes ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Contract Terms ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Fraud ,
Misrepresentation ,
Purchase Agreement ,
Representations and Warranties ,
Sandbagging ,
Transfer of Assets
Florida ends its legislative season without consumer data privacy legislation. Two legislative bills, SB 1864 and HB 9, were “indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration.” Companies doing business in Florida can...more
Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dealt a major blow to mortgage investors in two parallel actions pending for the past few years. The impact proved to be fatal to one of the actions,...more
2/18/2022
/ Article III ,
Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investors ,
Mortgages ,
Representations and Warranties ,
RMBS ,
Standing ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Time-Barred Claims
Cryptocurrency continues to gain traction as a means of payment for goods and services. It recently made its debut appearance in the mortgage industry, as the concept of a “crypto-mortgage” came to life. A Miami-based...more
2/9/2022
/ Bitcoin ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Loans ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Mortgages ,
Popular ,
Real Estate Investments ,
Real Estate Market ,
Real Estate Transactions
Estimates suggest that 1,000 people are moving to Florida each day, with most of them heading to South Florida. For developers and investors lured by the meteoric growth and favorable business conditions, it’s crucial to...more
2/7/2022
/ Construction Disputes ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Project ,
Environmental Policies ,
Financing ,
Florida ,
Foreign Investment ,
Infrastructure ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Joint Venture ,
Miami ,
Project Finance ,
Public Private Partnerships (P3s) ,
Real Estate Development ,
Urban Planning & Development
We’ve previously written about the push for greater regulation of digital currency and a growing number of lawsuits targeting cryptocurrency companies and their celebrity endorsers. Notwithstanding cryptocurrencies’...more
In previous posts, we reported on several of the many lawsuits across the country in which students have sued their colleges and universities for tuition reimbursement as a result of not receiving certain services during (in...more
1/21/2022
/ Breach of Contract ,
Colleges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Educational Institutions ,
Government Agencies ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Refunds ,
Reimbursements ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
Students ,
Tuition ,
Universities
We highlighted in a recent post regulators’ clear intentions to bring greater order to the cryptocurrency industry this year. The last three weeks have demonstrated that private litigants are not waiting on regulators to rein...more
1/14/2022
/ Bitcoin ,
Celebrity Endorsements ,
Consumer Fraud ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment ,
Misleading Statements ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Platforms ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Virtual Currency
Two major U.S. financial institutions, Morgan Stanley and Capital One, recently agreed to resolve separate class action lawsuits by paying, in the aggregate, hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for massive data...more
1/7/2022
/ Capital One ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Class Action ,
Cloud Computing ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Hackers ,
Identity Theft ,
Information Technology ,
Morgan Stanley ,
Personal Data ,
Settlement Agreements
2021 provided some long-awaited new exit ramps off the long and winding road of business vs. business residential mortgage litigation stemming from the 2007–08 financial crisis. A multitude of recent settlements has left that...more
On November 5, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued an emergency temporary standard (“ETS”) that implemented a “vaccinate-or-test” mandate for large, private employers. The ETS spurred a...more
1/4/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Oral Argument ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Even enthusiastic participants in the booming cryptocurrency sector have at times described it as having a distinctly “Wild West” feel at this relatively early stage of its development. Lately, though, there has been no...more
12/16/2021
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
Investment Opportunities ,
OCC ,
Popular ,
Stablecoins ,
Virtual Currency