Justice Department Gets Chance to Whack the CFPB in Florida Court
A federal judge in Florida has opened an opportunity for the U.S. Justice Department to undercut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in one of its biggest cases, teeing up a new fight as the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress ramp up their own attacks against the Obama-era agency.
August 03, 2017 at 05:33 PM
3 minute read
A federal judge in Florida has opened an opportunity for the U.S. Justice Department to undercut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in one of its biggest cases, teeing up a new fight as the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress ramp up their own attacks against the Obama-era agency.
The CFPB sued Ocwen Financial Corp. in April, alleging the West Palm Beach-based company “has repeatedly made mistakes and taken shortcuts at every stage of the mortgage servicing process.” This week, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra of the Southern District of Florida approved Ocwen's motion to invite the Justice Department to share its view—crafted under the leadership of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions—that the CFPB's structure is unconstitutional.
The dispute will mark the latest example of two federal agencies clashing in court. The Justice Department last month, staking a position against the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said sexual orientation is not protected under federal civil rights laws. In the U.S. Supreme Court, the Justice Department reversed course to argue against the lawfulness of employment contracts that ban class actions.
The Justice Department's criticism of the CFPB is well-known. In March, the government abandoned its earlier defense of the CFPB and adopted the position that the bureau's single-director design “lacks those critical structural attributes that have been thought to justify 'independent' status for multi-member regulatory commissions.”
That new position set the stage for a remarkable hearing in May before an en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The Justice Department and CFPB argued on opposite sides in the case PHH v. CFPB, a dispute that challenges the bureau's constitutionality. The appeals court is expected to issue a ruling later this year.
Lawyers for Ocwen—represented by Greenberg Traurig, Goodwin Procter and BuckleySandler—have mounted a similar attack on the CFPB, and they want the Justice Department to weigh in on their side. Many companies have piled on to the argument that the CFPB is unlawfully structured and its enforcement actions therefore should be voided.
The CFPB's adversaries extend beyond the courts. The U.S. Treasury Department released a report in June that called for empowering the president to readily fire the CFPB director. On Capitol Hill, U.S. House Republicans have passed legislation that would enact such a change to the bureau's power structure.
Marra gave the Justice Department an Oct. 2 deadline to weigh in, with a response due from the CFPB on Oct. 16.
Related Articles:
|- Trump's Justice Department Abandons Defense of CFPB
- Need Help Fighting the CFPB? One Company Turns to Trump's Justice Department
- Law Firm, Fighting CFPB Subpoena, Urges Court to End 'Fishing Expedition'
- Gibson Dunn's Ted Olson, on Capitol Hill, Smacks CFPB
- Companies Push to Piggyback on Ruling Against CFPB
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllTrump's SEC Overhaul: What It Means for Big Law Capital Markets, Crypto Work
Financial Services Has a Trust Problem. Can GCs Help Right the Ship?
Covington, Steptoe Form New Groups Amid Demand in Regulatory, Enforcement Space
4 minute readDOJ Files Antitrust Suit Against Visa Alleging It Thwarts Payment-Processing Rivals
Trending Stories
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250