Court of Appeal Rejects Litigation Privilege Under Rosenthal
In Komarova v. National Credit Acceptance, Inc., the First District California Court of Appeal considered several issues of first impression involving the California Robbins-Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Civil Code § 1788 et seq.
in Komarova, defendant sought to collect a debt from plaintiff that she did not owe; defendant had mistaken plaintiff for a credit cardholder with a different, but similarly spelled name. Defendant began collection calls to plaintiff's workplace in February 2005. In March 2005, defendant initiated arbitration proceedings against plaintiff. Defendant obtained a default award against plaintiff in June 2005, which defendant later sought to confirm in a judgment. Defendant's collection calls to plaintiff continued through January 2006.
Continue Reading...U.S. Supreme Court Decides Cuomo v. Clearing House
In Cuomo v. Clearing House Association, LLC, former New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer sent requests to several national banks, in lieu of subpoenas, seeking non-public information regarding whether the banks had violated the state's fair-lending laws. The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC"), the federal regulator of national banks, and Clearing House Association, a banking trade group, sued to enjoin the New York Attorney General (later Andrew Cuomo, the petitioner here.)
The district court entered an injunction prohibiting the enforcement of state fair-lending laws against national banks through information requests or judicial proceedings. The Second Circuit affirmed. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to determine whether the OCC's regulations preempting state law enforcement against national banks (12 C.F.R. § 7.400) are a reasonable interpretation of 12 U.S.C. § 484(a), the National Bank Act of 1864.
Continue Reading...