| Volume 142 Number 2 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
It’s National Consumer Protection Week 2019! Explore links to valuable information and exciting social media events the FTC has planned. Click here for more.
Southwest Airlines finally gets clearance to fly to Hawaii
Southwest this week finally gained approval to begin service to Hawaii. Southwest will launch its service to Hawaii March 17 with a flight from Oakland to Honolulu. Service between San Jose and Honolulu will begin in May. Inter-island service will connect Honolulu and Kahului late next month with four flights a day in both directions. On May 12, Southwest will begin inter-island flights between Honolulu and Keahole on roughly the same schedule. Click here for more.
Your Money
One of the common misconceptions surrounding investing is that you need to have a lot of money or open a brokerage account to get started. Thanks to the democratization of the industry and the rise of fintech, though, there are plenty of places to get started with investing – even if you think you’re broke. Before you give up on the idea of being an investor, here are several places where you can get started investing with $500 or less, including affordable exchange-traded funds. This is a great way to put some of your money to work – for you. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Debt buyer qualifies as debt collector under FDCPA. The Third Circuit affirmed a district court’s ruling that an entity that purchases charged-off receivables and outsources the collection activity to a third party still qualifies as a debt collector and, therefore, may be bound by the dictates of the FDCPA. The consumer filed a lawsuit alleging that a letter the contractor sent did not inform her how to exercise her validation rights, in violation of the FDCPA. The district court ruled that the defendant, which identifies itself as a creditor, meets the “principal purpose” definition of a debt collection under the FDCPA and, therefore, must comply with its provisions. On appeal, the defendant argued that debt collection and purchasing are “mutually exclusive,” and that the district court's ruling should be reversed under the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Henson v. Santander Consumer USA, which held that the FDCPA does not necessarily apply to a company collecting debts in default that it purchased for its own account. However, the Third Circuit agreed with the district court’s decision, and rejected the defendant’s arguments that Henson renders it a creditor rather than a debt collector. MARY BARBATO v. GREYSTONE ALLIANCE, LLC; TURNING POINT CAPITAL INC; CROWN ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC (3rd Cir 2019) Click here for more.