K&L Gates LLP recently presented the views of the major banking and lending trade associations, as amici curiae, in a federal challenge to HUD’s Fair Housing Act disparate-impact rule. The views expressed are those of the...more
The Ninth Circuit recently construed the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) provision that requires a debt collector to send a validation-of-debt notice within five days of “the initial communication” with a...more
Congress enacted the Federal Arbitration Act in the 1920s to deter hostility toward arbitration. Despite numerous Supreme Court rulings over the decades upholding that goal, arbitration continues to face hostility. The...more
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) recently answered the question of whether the Massachusetts anti-discrimination statute Chapter 151B recognizes a disparate impact theory of discrimination. In Burbank...more
5/3/2016
/ Affordable Housing ,
Apartments ,
Disparate Impact ,
Disparate Treatment ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
HUD ,
MA Supreme Judicial Court ,
Residential Real Estate Market ,
Section 8 ,
Texas Dept of Housing v Inclusive Communities ,
Title VII
Is the availability of class-wide arbitration a “gateway” question for courts, or are arbitrators charged with such a decision once a matter is compelled to them? In Dell Webb Communities, Inc. v. Carlson, the Fourth Circuit...more
In Avila v. Riexinger & Associates, LLC, No. 15-1584, --- F.3d ---, 2016 WL 1104776 (2d Cir. Mar. 22, 2016), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals construed the scope of Section 1692e of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act...more
The United States Supreme Court recently ruled in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, No. 14-1146, --- S. Ct. ---, 2016 WL 1092414 (U.S. Mar. 22, 2016), as to when a plaintiff may use statistical sampling in seeking to certify a...more
3/31/2016
/ Admissible Evidence ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Daubert Standards ,
Doffing ,
Donning ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
SCOTUS ,
Statistical Sampling ,
Tyson Foods v Bouaphakeo ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour
The Sixth Circuit (the “Court”) recently sided with a defendant-debt collector in a putative class action in which the plaintiffs claimed that the defendant’s calls to their cell phones violated the Telephone Consumer...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (the “Court”) has spoken again on the issue of “who decides” whether parties must arbitrate a dispute on a classwide basis. In 2014, the Court ruled that “unless the parties...more
On January 20, 2016, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez regarding Rule 68 offers of judgment. The Court held that a defendant cannot moot a case by merely offering complete...more
On June 25, 2015, the Supreme Court, by a 5-4 margin, upheld the application of disparate impact under the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) in Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc....more
The Second Circuit recently issued a National Bank Act preemption decision with significant implications for purchasers of loans and other debt from national banks. See Madden v. Midland Funding, LLC, --- F.3d ---, 2015 WL...more
6/4/2015
/ Appeals ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Class Certification ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Debt Buyers ,
Interest Rates ,
Midland Funding ,
National Bank Act ,
Preemption ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Usury
The United States Supreme Court has granted certiorari to decide whether a statutory violation alone, unaccompanied by any actual harm to the plaintiff, is sufficient to establish Article III standing. See Spokeo, Inc. v....more
The United States Supreme Court recently declined to review a Third Circuit decision holding that ordinarily a court, not an arbitrator, determines the availability of classwide arbitration. Opalinski v. Robert Half...more
On November 24, 2014, K&L Gates filed a brief with the United States Supreme Court on behalf of the American Financial Services Association, the Consumer Mortgage Coalition, the Independent Community Bankers of America, and...more
There are significant differences between individual (or “bilateral”) arbitration and classwide arbitration that can substantially affect the nature of arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism. Individual arbitration can...more
Recent Supreme Court decisions have favored the enforcement of consumer arbitration agreements requiring individual, rather than classwide, dispute resolution. A number of courts, however, have found that arbitrators, whose...more
In a victory for common sense, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (the “SJC”) has held that MASS. GEN. LAWS ch. 244 § 35A (“Section 35A”) does not relate to “the foreclosure of mortgages by the exercise of a power of...more
On September 3, 2013, K&L Gates LLP filed a brief as amici curiae before the United States Supreme Court in Township of Mount Holly v. Mt. Holly Gardens Citizens in Action, Inc., a case in which the Court will consider...more
On February 8, 2013, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD” or the “Department”) finalized its controversial discriminatory effects rule (the “final rule” or “discriminatory effects rule”), thus formalizing...more
The United States Supreme Court recently announced that it will return to the trenches of arbitration jurisprudence. Specifically, the Court granted certiorari in Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter, No. 12-135 (U.S.), to...more