Monthly Archives: July 2018

Maurice Wutscher’s Keith Wier Discusses TCPA at ACA Convention

July 27, 2018 — Maurice Wutscher attorney Keith Wier participated in a panel discussion on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act at the ACA International 2018 Convention in Nashville on July 24.

The panel discussed the TCPA and recent litigation developments surrounding the act, including Reyes v. Lincoln Automotive Financial Services and ACA International v. FCC, et al., as well as strategies when employing telephone contact with consumers or defending TCPA actions.

Mr. Wier’s talk was mentioned in an ACA synopsis about TCPA discussions during the convention.

Maurice Wutscher is a nationwide law firm providing defense and regulatory compliance counsel to the financial services industry.

Maurice Wutscher’s Ralph Wutscher Discusses Fair-Lending Doctrines in American Banker

July 24, 2018 — Maurice Wutscher partner Ralph Wutscher is quoted in an American Banker article regarding how the U.S. Supreme Court may ultimately rule on several unresolved fair-lending issues.

One issue is whether disparate impact is applicable under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Another issue deals with proximate cause and whether jurisdictions may claim harm from lending practices alleged to be discriminatory.

In the article, “Fair-lending doctrines could take beating from conservative court,” Mr. Wutscher said a case before the Supreme Court last year, Bank of America Corp. v. City of Miami, “suggested that plaintiffs had to show true causality beyond mere ‘ripples of harm’ in the housing market.”

Meanwhile, cases related to proximate cause are moving forward in such jurisdictions as Cook County, Illinois and Philadelphia and are “‘likely to develop in a fractured manner leading ultimately to an eventual determination by the Supreme Court,'” Mr. Wutscher said.

“‘The courts — including eventually the Supreme Court of the United States — could end up ruling in favor of the banks in a number of different ways, but one way that may be more likely than others would be a ruling that neither [Cook County nor Philadelphia] properly demonstrated that any of the claimed damages were proximately caused by any alleged violation,'” he said.

Mr. Wutscher is based in Maurice Wutscher’s Chicago office where he focuses his practice primarily on representing consumer and commercial financial services companies, including depository and non-depository mortgage lenders, fintech companies of various kinds, credit card issuers, and loan servicers, as well as financial asset buyers and sellers, and other financial services providers. He also has substantial experience representing auto dealers and depository and non-depository auto finance companies.

He represents the lending and financial services industry as a litigator, and as regulatory compliance counsel.

Maurice Wutscher’s Alan Hochheiser, Donald Maurice to Speak at RMA International Executive Summit

July 23, 2018 — Maurice Wutscher attorneys Alan Hochhesier and Donald Maurice will discuss a number of issues impacting the receivables management industry at the RMA International Executive Summit in Maine, July 31-Aug. 2.

Mr. Hochhesier will speak on bankruptcy litigation issues pertaining to proof of claim filings including Bankruptcy Rule 3001 dealing with the issue of interest, fees and costs, as well as objections to claims and how to avoid them, FDCPA actions and more.

Mr. Maurice, who serves as outside counsel to RMA, will discuss successful, ethics-driven compliance management tactics for the receivables management industry and join a panel of speakers in reviewing federal and state legislative and regulatory developments impacting the industry and how RMA is responding.

He will also sit down with Christopher Peterson, a law professor and former official at both the CFPB and the Department of Defense, to discuss the state of regulation of the consumer credit industry and speculate on what is on the horizon.

For more information and to see the agenda, click here.

Maurice Wutscher Attorneys Author Article for Business Law Today Month-In-Brief

July 6, 2018 — Maurice Wutscher attorneys Brent Yarborough and Eric Rosenkoetter have written an article published in the most recent issue of Business Law Today’s Month-In-Brief: Business Regulation & Regulated Industries.

In “CFPB Enters Consent Order with Consumer Lender over Debt Collection and Credit Reporting Practices,” Mr. Yarborough and Mr. Rosenkoetter discuss a consent order with a holding company and its affiliated operating entities engaged in consumer lending, issued by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

They write, “The lenders were collecting their own debt, and their principal purpose is consumer lending and not debt collection, thus their collection activities were not governed by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”). Instead, the Bureau used its authority under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to find a that number of the lenders’ collection activities were ‘unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices’ (UDAAP).”