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
"Mitigating crypto UDAAP risk after Ripple ICO ruling" by Ali M. Abugheida (Law360)
Cryptocurrency advocates have long argued that cryptocurrencies are not securities, and therefore not subject to state and federal securities laws. But a district court in California just shed light on whether advocates’ desired outcome also carries a substantial downside: application of state and...
Articles"NY credit card securitization class action misuses Madden" by Walter E. Zalenski (Law360)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit's decision in Madden v. Midland Funding LLC is deservedly notorious. The Madden court erroneously held that state usury laws may prohibit a national bank’s assignee from enforcing the interest rate on a credit agreement that was valid under the law...
ArticlesSpecial 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 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...
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...
ArticlesSpecial Alert: Class Action Suit Filed Based on CFPB Consent Order
In what may be the first action of its kind, a consumer who received restitution under the CFPB consent order has filed a class action lawsuit based on the same alleged violations. While this litigation is still in its early stages, it serves as an important reminder that an institution’s exposure...
ArticlesNeutralizing the Putative Lead Plaintiff
In two recent cases— Damasco v. Clearwire Corp. and Pitts v. Terrible Herbst, Inc —the 7th and 9th Circuits, respectively, reached conflicting results on the issue of whether an offer of judgment for the full amount of a putative lead plaintiff’s own claim moots a class action complaint if the...
Articles
News & Blogs
District court approves $2.3 million class settlement resolving violations of Massachusetts debt collection laws
On March 23, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued an order granting final approval to a nearly $2.3 million class action settlement, reached through mediation, to resolve allegations that a subsidiary of a large U.S. retailer (defendant) made excessive debt collection...
InfoBytesDaniel R. Alonso quoted in Wall Street Journal article, “Coronavirus disrupts U.S. court system”
Daniel R. Alonso was quoted on March 17, 2020 in a Wall Street Journal article, “Coronavirus disrupts U.S. court system,” which discussed decisions across the country to delay trials and limit public access to courthouses, including no new empaneling of grand juries in New York specifically. Alonso...
In The NewsCredit reporting agency FCRA suit may go forward
On March 9, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania denied the motion to dismiss and motion to strike a claim of a credit reporting agency (CRA) and its subsidiary (defendants) in a putative class action that alleged the defendants: (i) knowingly used inaccurate eviction...
InfoBytesMaryland Court of Appeals reverses trial court approval of settlement for interfering with CPD action
On March 3, the Maryland Court of Appeals reversed a trial court’s approval of a proposed settlement in a class action based on fraudulently induced assignments of annuity payments. The class members were recipients of structured settlement annuities from lead paint exposure claims who responded to...
InfoBytesDistrict court dismisses class claims regarding out-of-network ATM fees
On March 4, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California issued an order granting five separate motions for dismissal filed by a national bank and several independent ATM operators (defendants) regarding allegations that the defendants (i) charged unwarranted fees for using out-...
InfoBytesDistrict court approves $18.5 million “rent-a-tribe” payday loan settlement
On February 25, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted preliminary approval of an $18.5 million class action settlement to resolve allegations including violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, state usury and lending laws, and unjust...
InfoBytesDistrict court rejects bank’s bid to dismiss NSF suit
On February 19, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia denied a bank’s motion to dismiss a putative class action suit alleging the bank violated account agreements by routinely assessing more than one “non-sufficient funds fee [(NSF)] for a single attempted transaction...
InfoBytesDistrict court denies auto lender’s “de minimis” $4 million TCPA class action settlement
On February 14, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania denied the approval of a proposed $4 million class action settlement in a TCPA case based on a “confluence of a number of negative factors,” including that the court believed the defendant—a subprime auto lender—would...
InfoBytesDistrict court: Banks' claims against hospitality company for data breach may proceed
On February 7, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ruled in a multidistrict litigation action that a proposed class of banks may proceed with negligence claims under Louisiana law and pursue declaratory and injunctive relief against an international hospitality company. In this...
InfoBytesCourt certifies breach of contract class against bank
On January 30, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California certified a class of mortgage borrowers in a breach of contract suit against a national bank (defendant). In doing so, the court approved a class defined as consumers who (i) had a mortgage loan with the defendant; (ii)...
InfoBytes
Our Class Actions Team
Partners
Counsel
FYI
"NY credit card securitization class action misuses Madden" by Walter E. Zalenski (Law360)
Recent Blog Posts
-
March 27, 2020
District court approves $2.3 million class settlement resolving violations of Massachusetts debt collection laws
-
March 13, 2020
Credit reporting agency FCRA suit may go forward
-
March 13, 2020
Maryland Court of Appeals reverses trial court approval of settlement for interfering with CPD action
-
March 12, 2020
District court dismisses class claims regarding out-of-network ATM fees
-
February 28, 2020
District court approves $18.5 million “rent-a-tribe” payday loan settlement