In the last two weeks, WebBank and Cross River Bank—federally insured banks chartered in Utah and New Jersey, respectively—filed separate federal court actions (WebBank Complaint; Cross River Bank Complaint) against the...more
In his remarks at the LendIt Conference in New York, Comptroller of the Currency Tom Curry discussed the special purpose national bank charters to be granted by the OCC to fintech companies and addressed the various...more
3/8/2017
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banking Sector ,
BSA/AML ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Fintech Charter ,
Innovation ,
Money Laundering ,
National Bank Act ,
National Bank Charters ,
OCC ,
Technology
After the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant review of the Second Circuit's May 2015 decision in Madden v. Midland concerning federal preemption of state usury rates for loans issued by a national bank, the case was remanded...more
Assuming Judge Gorsuch's confirmation, the Court will add a Justice with extensive commercial litigation experience, a particular expertise in antitrust and securities law, and a track record on the bench that demonstrates a...more
2/6/2017
/ Administrative Authority ,
Administrative Review Board ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
AT&T Mobility v Concepcion ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Collective Actions ,
Comcast v. Behrend ,
Confirmation Proceedings ,
Consumer Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dukes v Wal-Mart ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Judicial Appointments ,
Microsoft v Baker ,
Motion to Compel ,
Neil Gorsuch ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Nominations ,
Popular ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities Litigation ,
Teamsters ,
Trump Administration
On Monday, a federal district court in the Southern District of New York granted a motion to compel arbitration in Bethune v. Lending Club Corporation, et al., a closely watched putative class action raising important issues...more
2/1/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinTech ,
Interest Rates ,
Lenders ,
Lending Club ,
Loans ,
Madden v Midland Funding ,
Motion to Compel ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Preemption ,
Putative Class Actions ,
RICO ,
Usury
On December 22, 2016, the California Supreme Court issued People ex rel. Owen v. Miami Nation Enterprises. The decision found that certain tribal business entities that provided loans in California are not "arms of the tribe"...more
1/10/2017
/ Banking Sector ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Internet Lenders ,
Native American Issues ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Payday Loans ,
Popular ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
Tribal Loans
The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments on December 7, 2016 in Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding Corp. The case poses a question that has divided the Second, Third, and Fifth Circuits: Whether a bankruptcy court may...more
Today, the United States Supreme Court held that an individual may be convicted of insider trading after receiving an investment tip from an insider who obtained no direct financial benefit from the disclosure. In a unanimous...more
12/8/2016
/ Confidential Information ,
Dirks v SEC ,
Financial Markets ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Insider Trading ,
Non-Public Information ,
Personal Benefit ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities Violations ,
Tippees ,
Tippers ,
US v Newman ,
US v Salman
Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court held that an individual may be convicted of insider trading after receiving an investment tip from an insider who obtained no direct financial benefit from the disclosure. In a...more
12/7/2016
/ Confidential Information ,
Dirks v SEC ,
Financial Markets ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Insider Trading ,
Non-Public Information ,
Personal Benefit ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities Violations ,
Tippees ,
Tippers ,
US v Newman ,
US v Salman
Last week, in Western Sky Financial v. State of Georgia, the Georgia Supreme Court issued a decision rejecting challenges to the state's Payday Lending Act (the "Act") and affirming the denial of a motion to dismiss claims...more
11/9/2016
/ Banking Sector ,
Choice-of-Law ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Financial Institutions ,
Interest Rates ,
Internet Lenders ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Native American Issues ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Payday Loans ,
Tribal Loans
On October 11, 2016 the D.C. Circuit in PHH Corporation v. CFPB, No. 15-1177, struck down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) leadership structure as unconstitutional. In short, the court ruled that Congress...more
10/13/2016
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Article II ,
Banking Sector ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Due Process ,
HUD ,
Insurance Industry ,
Kickbacks ,
Mortgage Insurance ,
Mortgages ,
PHH Corp. v CFPB ,
Popular ,
Referral Fees ,
Reinsurance ,
Removal For-Cause ,
RESPA ,
Single Director ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Statutory Interpretation
This past Thursday, September 22, a federal district court in the Central District of California dismissed an action raising usury claims against several student loan servicers, rejecting the plaintiffs' arguments based on...more
On August 31, a federal district court in California ruled in favor of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on the application of "true lender" principles in the context of a tribal lending arrangement. The...more
9/8/2016
/ Banking Sector ,
CashCall ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Financial Institutions ,
Home State Exception ,
Interest Rates ,
Internet Lenders ,
Native American Issues ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Payday Loans ,
Tribal Loans
Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry (R, NC-10), the Vice Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, introduced H.R. 5724, the Protecting Consumers’ Access to Credit Act of 2016, which would reaffirm the longstanding...more
The Supreme Court today denied certiorari in Midland Funding v. Madden. Although the denial leaves the Second Circuit's May 2015 decision in place, it does not signal the Supreme Court's view of the correctness of that ruling...more
6/27/2016
/ Banking Sector ,
Certiorari ,
Choice-of-Law ,
Debt Buyers ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Interest Rates ,
Madden v Midland Funding ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
SCOTUS ,
Usury ,
Valid When Made Doctrine
Lessons from Sabine -
In March, Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman held that Sabine Oil & Gas Corp. satisfied the standards for rejection of several gathering and handling agreements between Sabine and its midstream...more
6/13/2016
/ Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Covenants that Run With the Land ,
Creditors ,
Energy Sector ,
Executory Contracts ,
Fraudulent Transfers ,
Husky International Electronics v Ritz ,
Litigation Funding ,
Midstream Contracts ,
Mineral Exploration ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Sabine Oil and Gas ,
SCOTUS
As we reported in our case update on May 26, the Solicitor General filed its brief expressing the Government’s views on the cert-worthiness of Midland Funding v. Madden. Yesterday, Midland filed a supplemental brief with the...more
On May 26, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a wage-and-hour class arbitration clause violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), setting up a circuit split with the Fifth Circuit, and opening...more
In response to a request of the U.S. Supreme Court (discussed here), the U.S. Solicitor General’s Office on Tuesday filed a brief with the Court expressing the U.S. Government’s views on the merits of the claims brought in...more
5/26/2016
/ Banking Sector ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Madden v Midland Funding ,
National Bank Act ,
OCC ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Preemption ,
SCOTUS ,
Solicitor General ,
Usury
The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) yesterday issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that, among other things, would prohibit the use of class action waivers in arbitration clauses in connection with a broad...more
On March 22, 2016, the Supreme Court issued a decision permitting class plaintiffs to rely on "representative" or "sample" evidence to satisfy the prerequisites to class certification and certain elements of their claims. ...more
3/31/2016
/ Admissible Evidence ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Daubert Standards ,
Doffing ,
Donning ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Rules Enabling Act ,
SCOTUS ,
Statistical Sampling ,
Tyson Foods v Bouaphakeo ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday issued an order inviting the Solicitor General to provide the views of the United States on whether the Court should grant Midland Funding’s petition seeking review. As discussed in greater...more
Last week, we wrote about the Supreme Court's unprecedented issuance of a stay prohibiting the implementation of the "Clean Power Plan" while a judicial challenge to the Plan is pending. The extraordinary stay decision...more
In a highly unusual action, the United States Supreme Court yesterday issued a stay prohibiting the implementation of the "Clean Power Plan," a final regulation issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") on...more
On January 12, 2016, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”) issued a final rule establishing new requirements for membership in the Federal Home Loan Banks (“FHLBanks”). The FHLBanks are 11 U.S. government-sponsored...more