Law firms retained to pursue fore­closure against homeowners are “debt collectors” subject to the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a fed­eral appeals court ruled in a case in­volving Virginia Beach law firm Sam­uel I. White PC. In its published ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

A plaintiff who has defaulted on her mortgage loan with Freddie Mac adequate­ly alleged that a Virginia Beach foreclosure firm, Samuel I. White PC, and the substi­tute trustees, are “debt collectors” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Consumer Protection Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

A lender’s alleged practice of “pyramid­ing” late fees on an installment loan by charging a late fee for any month in which plaintiff borrower paid a loan installment timely and in full, based on prior assess­ments for payments beyond the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Consumer Protection Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

The Internal Revenue Service did not violate the Freedom of Information Act in withholding or producing redacted versions of 10 pages out of hundreds of documents produced to an information technology com­pany that was audited by the IRS, including an ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

A district court erred in applying the Rooker-Feldman doctrine to decline to hear a restaurant’s suit challenging a Maryland state agency’s imposition of conditions on the restaurant’s liquor license; the 4th Circuit says the restaurant is not requesting appel­late review ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Procedure Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

Although the government recommended the district court not apply a four-level sen­tencing enhancement in compliance with its plea agreement, it breached the plea agree­ment by informing the district court it had changed its position on the applicability of the enhancement, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

Plaintiff prisoner was not a party to a 2010 suit by inmates alleging prison food was so nutritionally deficient it violated their Eighth Amendment rights, and a district court erred in dismissing plain­tiff’s suit on res judicata grounds, the 4th ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

A bank that faced a multi-million dol­lar default judgment in a pro se lawsuit filed by a disbarred lawyer and convicted felon who blamed the bank for the collapse of a real estate deal cannot win coverage for a “lending ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Procedure Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

Attention corporate defendants: Failure to pay heed to internal processes and timely submit that civil complaint and summons to your insurance company can be very expensive. American Bank Holdings Inc. found out the hard way. Due to an eight-month delay ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III Judge Paul V. Niemeyer Judge William B. Traxler Jr.

A company that purchased defaulted auto loans as part of an investment bun­dle of receivables was acting on its own behalf when it attempted to collect on the loans, and not acting as a “debt collector” covered by the Fair ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Consumer Protection Judge Paul V. Niemeyer