Class Actions
They have a very strong team, and have the capacity to handle large engagements.Chambers USA
Practice Overview
Buckley is among the preeminent class action defense firms in the United States for the financial services industry. Our firm vigorously defends leading banks, insurers, mortgage lenders and servicers, credit card issuers, auto lenders, and retailers in putative class actions and other complex litigation across the nation. We are involved in class action claims alleging violations of federal and state consumer protection and consumer credit statutes, wrongful underwriting and servicing practices, credit discrimination, and inflated or otherwise wrongful insurance claims, to name a few.
Buckley has achieved groundbreaking success for our clients involving a wide variety of disputes. We represent clients in federal and state court class and mass actions throughout the country. We consistently deliver efficient and effective representation in class action matters by leveraging our firmwide knowledge and abilities in financial services litigation and the relevant regulations to devise the best possible and most comprehensive defense strategies imaginable.
Given the high stakes of class action claims, we recognize the importance of the early identification of an optimal exit strategy — whether such a strategy is through the dismissal of pleadings, defeat of class certification, prevailing on summary judgment, or obtaining a favorable negotiated resolution for our client. In addition, we frequently handle the complex parallel proceedings involving concurrent government enforcement and civil litigation, congressional investigations, and regulatory counseling matters that often present themselves alongside class action litigation.
Our Class Actions team is comprised of a selection of the most experienced financial services class action trial and appellate attorneys in the country. Our firm is ranked nationally in Band 1 by Chambers for consumer finance litigation, with three Buckley lawyers included among the top 18 consumer finance litigators in the U.S.
Noteworthy matters include:
- Represented numerous insurance companies in multiple putative nationwide and state specific class actions concerning lender-placed insurance
- Represented a mortgage originator and affiliated entities in a putative class action alleging violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and common law unjust enrichment related to a captive mortgage reinsurance arrangement
- Settlement reached on a nationwide class action brought on behalf of credit card customers regarding a reduction in a credit line and the assessment of overlimit fees; a nationwide class settlement was reached
- Represented a mortgage originator and servicer in a mass action involving hundreds of mortgage borrowers alleging various fraudulent acts in connection with the origination and servicing of their loans, allegedly in violation of New York General Business Law § 349 and common law; the client prevailed on a motion to sever and dismiss claims
They have a very strong team, and have the capacity to handle large engagements.Chambers USA
Articles
Special Alert: D.C. Circuit significantly narrows FCC’s order defining autodialer
On March 16, the D.C. Circuit issued its much anticipated ruling in ACA International v. FCC . The D.C. Circuit’s ruling significantly narrows a Federal Communication Commission order from 2015, which, among other things, had broadly defined an “autodialer” for purposes of the Telephone Consumer...
Special Alerts"The great data breach standing circuit split" by Amanda R. Lawrence, Antonio J. Reynolds, and Michael A. Rome (Law360)
Data breaches are back in the news in a big way. Over the past several weeks alone, prominent hotel chains, online platforms and retailers announced significant data breaches. Unsurprisingly, in the aftermath of these disclosures, consumers filed class actions alleging that the data breaches...
Articles"The rise and fall of statistical sampling in RMBS cases" by Amanda Lawrence and Michael A. Rome (Law360)
The 2008 mortgage crisis prompted a wave of residential mortgage-backed securities and repurchase litigation as trustees, certificate holders (i.e. investors), monoline insurers, securitizers and other stakeholders pursued claims related to loans securitized in RMBS trusts. One of the hallmarks of...
ArticlesFredrick S. Levin Authored a Law360 Article, "2 Litigation Trends Offer Guidance On TCPA Compliance"
$76 million, $14.8 million, $12 million and $3.7 million. These numbers represent some of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act settlement agreements negotiated in 2017. As shown by these numbers, TCPA litigation continues to be a leading litigation risk for corporate America. Recently, several...
ArticlesAmanda Lawrence and Michael A. Rome Authored a Law360 Article, "The Great Class Action Ascertainability Debate"
In recent years, courts have divided sharply over whether or not Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure creates an implicit requirement that a class must be ascertainable in order to be certified. This article addresses the meaning of ascertainability, the circuit split over whether and to...
ArticlesSpecial Alert: California Supreme Court Invalidates Widely Used Arbitration Provisions and Curtails the Scope of Proposition 64
On April 6, the California Supreme Court published its opinion in McGill v. Citibank, N.A., finding unenforceable arbitration agreements that purport to waive claims for public injunctive relief brought under California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA), Civ. Civ. Code, § 1750 et seq., its...
ArticlesSpecial Alert: Madden Class Action Moves Forward
On February 27, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a ruling in Madden v. Midland Funding, LLC , [1] holding that New York’s fundamental public policy against usury overrides a Delaware choice-of-law clause in the plaintiff’s credit card agreement. The court allowed...
ArticlesRegulatory and Litigation Trends Regarding Lender-Placed Insurance
In recent years, LPI has been the subject of significant New York state regulatory action resulting in consent decrees prohibiting certain practices that were alleged to raise insurance rates. Similar federal action on behalf of GSEs may be forthcoming in 2016. In private litigation, LPI defendants...
ArticlesWhat Companies Can Expect After Campbell-Ewald
May defendants moot a putative class action by merely offering complete relief to the putative class representative? The U.S. Supreme Court says no, and the decision may have profound implications on class actions for years to come. Some options may remain, however, if more than a mere offer can be...
ArticlesClass Action Settlement Considerations: Ten Tips for a Successful Settlement (The Case Law)
The following article discusses recent, significant decisions on federal class action settlements. While not all inclusive, these cases may help practitioners avoid common (and some not-so-common) pitfalls when trying to reach a successful, lasting class action settlement. This article assumes that...
Articles
News & Blogs
District Court finds text messages were not sent by autodialer
On March 29, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted a telecommunication company’s summary judgment motion in a putative TCPA class action involving text messages. The plaintiff asserted that the company sent him text messages asking survey questions, even though he...
InfoBytes9th Circuit: Administrator vicariously liable for debt collectors’ alleged TCPA violations
On March 22, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit reversed a lower court’s decision to dismiss TCPA claims against a student loan administrator (defendant), finding that the administrator could be held vicariously liable for a contractor’s alleged debt collection attempts. The plaintiff...
InfoBytesDistrict Court approves $13.8 million class settlement for loan modifications
On March 14, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina issued an order certifying a settlement class of individuals who alleged that, while they were subject to Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings, a national bank imposed “no-application loan modifications” (NAMs) to their...
InfoBytes2nd Circuit affirms dismissal of FDCPA action
On March 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit affirmed dismissal of a consumer’s action against a debt collector, holding that the collection letter complied with the FDCPA. According to the opinion, the consumer filed a putative class action alleging the letter he received from the...
InfoBytesProposed settlement would resolve claims in Madden v. Midland Funding, LLC
On March 1, plaintiffs filed a proposed class action settlement agreement with a debt collection firm in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which would potentially end litigation dating back to 2011 concerning alleged violations of state usury limitations. The proposed...
InfoBytesClass settles data breach claims over compromised payment card data
On February 26, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida granted final approval and class certification, following a final approval hearing, to a settlement resolving class action allegations concerning a data breach involving an international fast-food chain. According to the...
InfoBytes7th Circuit vacates class decertification decision in auto finance lawsuit
On February 13, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit vacated a lower court’s decision to rescind class certification for a group of automotive dealerships (plaintiffs), concluding the lower court did not provide a sufficiently thorough explanation of its decision for the appeals court to...
InfoBytesBank settles ride-sharing overdraft suit for $22 million
On January 31, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted final approval and class certification to a $22 million settlement resolving class action allegations that a national bank improperly charged overdraft fees on “one-time, non-recurring” transactions made with a...
InfoBytesDistrict Court: Approval of data breach settlement denied due to several deficiencies
On January 28, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied preliminary approval of a proposed class action settlement after identifying several deficiencies with the deal. The proposed settlement was intended to resolve allegations concerning security failures by a global...
InfoBytesDistrict Court approves $30 million settlement for post-payment interest charges on FHA mortgages
On January 25, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted final approval of a $30 million settlement resolving allegations that a national bank improperly collected post-payment interest on FHA-insured mortgages but did not use the FHA-approved form to provide the...
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FYI
"The great data breach standing circuit split" by Amanda R. Lawrence, Antonio J. Reynolds, and Michael A. Rome (Law360)
Recent Blog Posts
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April 4, 2019
District Court finds text messages were not sent by autodialer
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March 29, 2019
9th Circuit: Administrator vicariously liable for debt collectors’ alleged TCPA violations
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March 19, 2019
District Court approves $13.8 million class settlement for loan modifications
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March 14, 2019
2nd Circuit affirms dismissal of FDCPA action
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March 13, 2019
Proposed settlement would resolve claims in Madden v. Midland Funding, LLC