Summary:

The Fourth Circuit's published decision in J. Robert van Faassen, LLM v. Greg Lindberg addresses an important question involving international arbitration: is the three-year deadline in the Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA") for confirming a foreign arbitration award merely permissive, or is it a true statute of limitations?

The answer, according to the Fourth Circuit, is that the deadline means exactly what it says.

Summary:

The Fourth Circuit's published decision in Bayramov v. American Credit Acceptance is much more than another case about shareholder standing. It is one of the clearest explanations I have ever read of what Judge Julius N. Richardson calls the "claims ownership principle"—the doctrine that determines who actually owns a cause of action when a business has been injured. This opinion deserves a place in law school casebooks.

This is the third and final pirate-themed case I've written about this week. I'll admit this one has the weakest connection. Unlike the Black Pearl and Blackbeard cases, there are no pirates in the opinion itself. Instead, the link is geographic: Bristol, England was the departure point for the voyage in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Sometimes that's enough of an excuse to end a pirate trilogy.

Summary:

In Golden Corral Corp. v. Illinois Union Insurance Co., the Fourth Circuit held that a subsequent change in state law—even one directly undermining a federal court's earlier prediction of that law—does not ordinarily constitute the "extraordinary circumstances" required to reopen a final judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(6).

The Fourth Circuit’s unpublished decision in Rock Spring Plaza II, LLC v. Investors Warranty of America, LLC is ostensibly a Maryland commercial lease case. But consumer bankruptcy lawyers will recognize a familiar pattern: a financially troubled enterprise attempting to isolate liabilities in a newly created entity, preserve the profitable assets, and leave creditors holding an empty bag.

In Sessoms v. USHealth Advisors, LLC, the Fourth Circuit reversed the Eastern District of North Carolina and held that USHealth Advisors, LLC could enforce an arbitration clause contained in a lead-generation website’s Terms of Use against a consumer bringing TCPA claims.

Summary:

Plaintiff Cynthia Sessoms alleged that USHealth violated the TCPA through prerecorded telemarketing calls. USHealth argued that Sessoms had previously agreed to arbitration when she sought insurance quotes through a NextGen/FirstQuoteHealth lead-generation website.

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In , the Fourth Circuit in Jackson v. Protas, Spivok & Collins LLC held that a debt collection law firm could not enforce an arbitration clause contained in a consumer loan agreement because the firm was not “servicing” the loan within the meaning of the contract.

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In LaRosa v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the Fourth Circuit held that interest obligations arising from an erroneous IRS refund can constitute “unpaid tax” eligible for equitable innocent spouse relief under 26 U.S.C. § 6015(f).

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In American Acceptance Corporation of SC v. Gietz , the Fourth Circuit held that a secured creditor’s rights in collateral can temporarily give way when the property becomes critical evidence in a criminal prosecution.

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In Goddard v. Burnett, the Fourth Circuit affirmed what many bankruptcy judges (especially in the Eastern Disttrict of North Carolina) have been signaling for years: the mechanical safe harbor of § 1325(b) does not displace the equitable backbone of Chapter 13—good faith.