On August 20. 2020 the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas entered an order lifting one the stays in the case of Community Financial Services Association of America, LTD., et al., v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, et al. The lawsuit filed by two trade groups challenging the CFPB’s 2017 final payday loan rule. The stay was originally entered in June 2018 on the heels of the trade groups’ motion for a preliminary injunction and before the CFPB’s response to the motion or answer to the complaint in the case.
In addition to lifting the court’s stay of the lawsuit (but not the separate stay of implementation of the 2017 rule), the order also set a schedule for the trade groups to file, and the CFPB to answer, an amended complaint, and for the parties to file and brief cross-motions for summary judgment. Because the CFPB has rescinded the mandatory underwriting provisions of the 2017 Rule, the continuing litigation will focus on the rule’s payment provisions, which were left untouched by the CFPB in its recent rulemaking.
Under the order, the deadline for the final summary judgment brief to be filed is December 18, 2020. Until then, unless the court decides the summary judgment motions in favor of the CFPB, it is unlikely that the court will take any action to lift its stay of implementation of the rule. When the court does move, the lift of the stay could be effective very quickly.
For more information about this case and about the Payday Lending rules consider attending our Payday Lending 2020 Update on September 9. 2020.
