Jan. 10, 2017 — Maurice Wutscher’s Donald Maurice and D. Sharmin Arefin will speak at the ABA’s Consumer Financial Services Committee winter meeting in Calsbad, California this week.
Maurice, who is chair of the CFSC’s Debt Collection Practices and Bankruptcy Subcommittee, will lead the roundtable discussion, “Midland v. Johnson – What’s Before SCOTUS in Consumer Bankruptcy and FDCPA Litigation and the CFPB Enforcement Implications” on Jan. 13.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument of the case on Jan. 17, which involves the intersection of the FDCPA and bankruptcy law. A primary issue before the Court is whether a creditor’s proof of claim for debt subject to an expired limitations period is a per se violation of the FDCPA. The decision impacts not only creditors subject to the FDCPA, but all creditors participating in consumer bankruptcy cases. The petition comes from the Eleventh Circuit, the only to hold the conduct violates the FDCPA and the theory was subsequently rejected by the Fourth, Seventh and Eighth Circuit Courts of Appeals. Maurice successfully argued the creditor case in the Fourth Circuit case.
On Jan. 14, Arefin will moderate “Serving the Underserved: Lessons in Marketing and Emerging Markets.” Speakers will discuss how financial institutions are reaching their increasingly diverse consumer base and ways that the legal profession can support them. Arefin is vice chair of CFSC’s Diversity Task Force and holds a number of other leadership positions within ABA.
For more information about the meeting, click here.