Monthly Archives: March 2017

Maurice Wutscher’s Donald Maurice to Discuss Pending Financial Services SCOTUS Case at ABA Spring Meeting

March 30, 2017 — Maurice Wutscher’s Donald Maurice will discuss the pending U.S. Supreme Court case Midland Funding, LLC v. Johnson and its potential impact on consumer financial services law on April 6 at the ABA’s Business Law Section Spring Meeting in New Orleans.

Mr. Maurice will be among a panel of speakers representing counsel for the parties and amici from the Midland Funding case as well as a sitting bankruptcy judge. Maurice Wutscher LLP filed an amicus curiae brief in the case on behalf of DBA International, Inc.

The panel will discuss how the decision may affect the Chapter 13 claims process and federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act litigation. 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 could impact 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.

Mr. Maurice successfully argued the creditor case in the Fourth Circuit case.

For more information, click here.

Webinar to Examine Use of Bankruptcy Code to Impose Debt Collector Liability

March 21, 2017 — Maurice Wutscher’s Alan C. Hochhesier and Donald Maurice will discuss the CFPB’s and the U.S. Trustee’s use of Bankruptcy Code Section 105 as an enforcement tool in addressing the conduct of debt buying companies during a webinar March 29.

Section 105 provides a bankruptcy court with broad powers to carry out the provisions of the Bankruptcy Code. Recently, the U.S. Trustee filed two actions under the section concerning a debt buying company’s conduct in filing proofs of claim. The webinar will examine Section 105 and discuss what creditors need to know to avoid liability.

The webinar is being presented by Receivables Management Association and sponsored by The Bureaus, Inc. It will provide 1.5 education credits. For more information and to register, click here.