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1 |  | National Consumer Law Center's Annual Consumer Rights Litigation Conference November 9th-20th, 2020 | Week One | |||||
2 | Monday, November 9th | Return to CRLC Webpage | ||||||
3 | Times (ET) | Track | Level | Title | Speakers | Description | |
4 | 11:00AM-12:00PM | 2020 CRLC Opening Plenary Panel Discussion: The Presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court: A Discussion on What's Just Happened, and What It Means for Our Clients and Community | Gary Cunningham, President and CEO of Prosperity Now Lisa Donner, Executive Director of Americans for Financial Reform Robert Greenstein, Founder and President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Paul Kiel, Reporter at ProPublica Sarah Rosen Wartell, President of the Urban Institute | The Opening Plenary address will feature a nationally-known speaker addressing the extraordinary year this has been – COVID-19, economic catastrophe, Black Lives Matter, and the outcome(s) of the national elections – and where we go from here: in politics, democracy, social change, consumer law and economic justice. | |||
5 | 1:00PM-2:30PM | Auto | Beginner | A1: Intro to Auto | Tom Domonoske (Consumer Litigation Associates )& Adam McNeile (Kemnitzer, Barron & Krieg, LLP) | This session will survey the many kinds of fraud that are common in both sales and financing of used cars, and will provide insights about the auto sales industry. It will include an introductory discussion of many causes of action and remedies and will review key points for intake and structuring your case for success. | |
6 | 1:00PM-2:30PM | FCRA | ABC | A2: ABCs of FCRA | Matt Osborne (Osborne Law) & Carla Sanchez-Adams (Texas RioGrande Legal Aid) | This is our perennial course introducing newbies to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This year's session will contrast the approach of a legal services and a private attorney | |
7 | 1:00PM-2:00PM | Debt Defense | S1: Debt Defense Strategy Summit | Join us in the virtual lounge to participate in one of the simultaneous small group discussions. Discussion topics will be: State Debt Collection Policy, Debt Defense Strategies that Work, Legal Services and Debt Defense, Making Debt Defense a Successful Part of a Private Practice, and Medical Debt Defense. | |||
8 | 3:00PM-4:00PM | Other/Debt Defense | ABCs | A3: Medical Debt Primer/Intro to Med Debt | Jenifer Bosco (National Consumer Law Center) & Kate Russell (Colorado Legal Services) | Medical debt is one of the most common types of consumer debt, affecting over 20% of adults who have credit reports, and disproportionately burdening people of color. Debt can range from relatively small bills not covered by insurance, to tens of thousands of dollars, and can arise for different reasons. This session will provide an overview of the ways that medical debts arise, and different strategies to pursue to help your client. | |
9 | 3:00PM-4:15PM | Housing | Intermediate | A4: RESPA Issues in COVID-19 Mortgage Relief Options | Johnnie Larrie (Legal Aid of North Carolina) & John Rao (National Consumer Law Center). Moderator: Sarah Mancini (National Consumer Law Center) | This session will involve a discussion of RESPA issues raised by short-term loss mitigation offers (including CARES Act forbearances), post-forbearance permanent relief, and servicers' obligations in light of the RESPA rules as well as the CFPB's recent Interim Final Rule. Please read this hypothetical prior to attending the session. | |
10 | 3:00 PM-4:15PM | Other/Practice | Intermediate | A5: Civil Rights in Consumer Law | Anna Prakash (Nichols Kaster, PLLP) & David Seligman (Towards Justice) | This presentation will discuss various civil rights laws and how they could be used to protect certain consumers when they are looking for loans, financing, or other agreements. The presentation will touch on laws such as the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act, and the Fair Housing Act, discuss different ways to bring those types of claims, and examine which more traditional consumer claims they could be paired with. | |
11 | 5:00PM-6:15PM | Other/Practice | ABC | A6: ABCs of Class Action Part 1 | Hannah Cole-Chu, Maya Jumper, & Michael Litrownik (Outten & Golden LLP) | A two-part introduction to class action practice that will cover the fundamentals from filing a class action complaint, through class discovery, class certification and, finally, settlement or trial of a class case. Also a good foundation for the Class Action Update and the Class Action Symposium scheduled for later in the Conference. | |
12 | 5:00PM-6:30PM | Credit | Intermediate | A7: The Dark Side of Solar, PACE, and Home Improvements [Session Recording Not Available for On Demand Viewing] | Andrew Milz (Flitter Milz, PC), Alysson Snow (Legal Aid Socity of San Diego), & Rob Treinen (Treinen Law Office, PLC) | A two-part introduction to class action practice that will cover the fundamentals from filing a class action complaint, through class discovery, class certification and, finally, settlement or trial of a class case. Also a good foundation for the Class Action Update and the Class Action Symposium scheduled for later in the Conference. | |
13 | 5:00PM-6:15PM | Housing | Intermediate | A8: Depositions in the Time of the Novel Coronavirus | David Humphreys and Luke Wallace (Humphreys Wallace Humphreys PC); Moderator: Andrea Bopp Stark (National Consumer Law Center) | The trend of using technology for remote depositions is accelerating in the pandemic. This program will offer a critical evaluation of the available technologies (with a bias toward cost savings) and best practices for taking depositions remotely. Topics to be covered include “Important issues for agreement before scheduling remote depositions,” “Why are you taking this deposition,” “How to organize and structure discovery to take effective depositions,” “Dealing with the potential for coaching and interference,” and “Using exhibits effectively in a remote deposition.” Forms for 30(b)(1) and 30(b)(6) exams topics will be provided. | |
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15 | Tuesday, November 10th | ||||||
16 | Times (ET) | Track | Level | Title | Speakers | Description | |
17 | 11:00AM-12:00PM | Auto | Beginner | B1: Investigation in Auto Cases | Ron Burdge (Burdge Law Office) | A successful auto case begins with an efficient, thorough, and focused investigation. The session will cover best practices for document review, title searches, informal investigatory techniques and more. | |
18 | 11:00:AM-12:15PM | Student Loans | ABC | B2: ABCs of Student Loan Law | Adam Minsky (Law Office of Adam S. Minsky) & Persis Yu (National Consumer Law Center) | This session will provide participants with a background in student loan issues. It will also provide an overview of the different types of loans, the consequences of defaulting on a student loan, and an introduction to the tools necessary to assist borrowers. It will also include an interaction session to help practioners issue spot and learn some common problems that arise in representing student loan borrowers. | |
19 | 11:00AM-12:30PM | TCPA | ABC | B3: Basic Intro into How to Stop Robocalls Under the TCPA | Amanda Allen (The Consumer Protection Firm) & Anthony Paronich (Paronich Law, P.C.) | An introduction to all the federal laws (and some state laws) that can be helpful in stopping, or obtaining redress for, unwanted robocalls. | |
20 | 1:00PM-2:15PM | Housing | Intermediate | B4: Fighting Reverse Mortgage Foreclosures: Selected Issues | Berbeth Foster (Coast to Coast Legal Aid of South Florida, Inc) & Joanne Savage (Legal Services for the Elderly) | The COVID-19 pandemic has hit older adults particularly hard. This session will address current and emerging issues regarding the foreclosure of reverse mortgages, including property charge defaults and other COVID-19 hardships and HUD’s implementation of the CARES Act protections for HECM borrowers. | |
21 | 1:00PM-2:30PM | Fair Debt | Beginner | B5: Common Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Claims | Tiffany Hardy (Edelman Combs Latturner & Goodwin, LLC) & Abbas Kazerounian (Kazerouni Law Group, APC) | Meritorious FDCPA claims that practitioners commonly bring will be explored in this session. | |
22 | 3:00PM-4:15PM | Practice | Beginner | B6: Preserving the Income and Assets of Older Adults Impacted by Scams and Financial Exploitation | Deborah Cuevas Hill (AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly), Denis Culley (Legal Services for the Elderly), & Moderator: Odette Williamson (National Consumer Law Center) | Older adults are frequent targets of individuals promoting COVID-19 related scams and other fraudulent schemes, and financial exploitation by family members. This session will focus on prevention, protection and litigation strategies to get back assets and/or money. Protection of the home will be discussed given the rise in equity theft and related scams. | |
23 | 3:00PM-4:15PM | FCRA | Intermediate | B7: FCRA Mini-Intensive, Specialty CRAs Part 1: Conviction Histories, Expungement, and FCRA: Keeping up with Developments in a Changing Legal Landscape | E. Michelle Drake (Berger Montague), Jamie Gullen (Community Legal Services of Philadelphia), & Judy Whiting (Community Service Society of New York) | Indelible criminal records not only reflect generations of discriminatory policing and prosecution, they can also create a lifetime of difficulty finding work, a place to live, or a future for oneself and one’s family – a grim situation disproportionately and generationally borne by people of color. States across the country are working to enact laws to expunge or seal these records with the goal of increasing opportunities for full participation in community and the economy. No two of these laws are identical, though: each reflects individual states’ politics, legal landscape and recordkeeping systems. Experts will discuss the interplay of expungement, sealing, and FCRA, particularly concerning employment background checks and screening. | |
24 | 3:00PM-4:30PM | Credit | Intermediate | B8: Payment Scams: From COVID to Check Scams to Zelle | Lauren Saunders (National Consumer Law Center) & Monica Vaca (Federal Trade Comission) | Payment scams take billions of dollars from people each year, and scammers have exploited the COVID-19 crisis to grab money at the worst possible time. The scams can take many forms and use many different payment systems, including checks, gift cards, wire transfers, credit cards, electronic payments, and newer fintech payment apps. Consumers’ legal rights and remedies vary considerably depending on the type of payment. Attacking scammers can be a whack-a-mole problem, but sometimes public enforcers can more efficiently address the VOIP carriers, payment providers, and payment processors that scammers rely on. This session will describe recent payment scam trends, explain consumer legal rights, and discuss federal and state enforcement efforts. | |
25 | 5:00PM-6:15PM | Practice/CA | ABC | B9: ABCs of Class Actions Part 2 | Hannah Cole-Chu, Maya Jumper, & Michael Litrownik (Outten & Golden LLP) | A two-part introduction to class action practice that will cover the fundamentals from filing a class action complaint, through class discovery, class certification and, finally, settlement or trial of a class case. Also a good foundation for the Class Action Update and the Class Action Symposium scheduled for later in the Conference. | |
26 | 5:00PM-6:15PM | Practice/Other | All levels | B10: Guilt, Fear, and Anger: How to Develop Emotional Distress Damages | Gary Goldberg (Terry Garmey and Associates), Chet Randall ( Pine Tree Legal Assistance), & Andrea Bopp Stark (National Consumer Law Center) | What happens when you put a legal aid attorney, consumer litigation attorney, and personal injury attorney on a consumer rights case together? Find out the strategies and techniques this team used to develop maximum damages for their clients and educate judges and opposing counsel of the real effects about financial abuse on consumers. Speakers as that attendees view this document prior to attendance. | |
27 | 5:00PM-6:15PM | Housing | Intermediate | B11: COVID-19 Mort: FHA, VA, and USDA Loans | Steve Sharpe (National Consumer Law Center) | This session will discuss the options available for borrowers with FHA, VA, and USDA loans who face a pandemic related hardship. | |
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29 | Wednesday, November 11th (Veteran's Day) | ||||||
30 | Times (ET) | Track | Title | Speakers | Description | ||
31 | 11:00 AM | Plenary (Potential) | |||||
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33 | Thursday, November 12th | ||||||
34 | Times (ET) | Track | Level | Title | Speakers | Description | |
35 | 11:00AM-12:00PM | Student Loans | Intermediate | C1: Student Loan Repayment After the Pandemic: Issue-Spotting and Default Prevention | Heather Jarvis (Heather Jarvis, Student Loan Expert LLC) & Mike Pierce (Student Borrower Protection Center) | Millions of borrowers of federal or private student loans received relief from the obligation to make payments during some portion of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, historically, borrowers have struggled to make payments and stay on track following disaster-related forbearances and economic recessions. Servicers have a vital role to play during these times of transition, facilitating smooth repayment or ushering borrowers into preventable defaults. Panelists will discuss common repayment pitfalls and how to help borrowers access the programs and ongoing relief (including loan forgiveness) to which they are entitled. | |
36 | 11:00AM-12:15PM | Practice/CA | Intermediate | C2: Class Action Update | Justin Holcombe (Skaar & Feagle, LLP) & Scott Nelson (Public Citizen Litigation Group) | This session will evaluate the impact of key recent Supreme Court and Appellate decisions on class action practice. | |
37 | 11:00AM-12:15PM | FCRA | Beginner | C3: FCRA Mini-Intensive, Specialty CRAs Part 2: Tenant Screening | Lauren Brennan (Francis, Mailman, Soumilas, P.C.), Eric Dunn (National Housing Law Project), Kim Johnson (National Low Income Housing Coalition) & Ariel Nelson (National Consumer Law Center) | The existing rental housing crisis in America has worsened due to the COVID-19 crisis. Many low-and moderate-income tenants have faced or will face eviction in the wake of the pandemic. This session will discuss some of the longer term consequences of these evictions for renters, including how the use of eviction records and tenant screening reports to assess "eligibility" for housing shuts people--often tenants of color and Black women in particular--out of housing. This session also will address policy and litigation solutions (including FCRA claims) to this aspect of the housing crisis, as well as other problems with tenant screening. | |
38 | 1:00PM-2:00PM | Fair Debt | Beginner/Intermediate | C4: Utility Debt and COVID-19 | Karen Lusson (National Consumer Law Center) , Olivia Wein (National Consumer Law Center), & Moderator: Jen Bosco (National Consumer Law Center) | Almost all states stopped or limited utility disconnections during the COVID-19 state of emergency. Some states have lifted these orders while others will continue at least until the spring. At the end of a state disconnection moratorium, the utility bills come due, along with rent, food, and all of the other bills. This session will examine utility consumer debt, recommendations for utility consumer protection policies at the state level, and examples of successful advocacy. | |
39 | 1:00PM-2:00PM | Practice/Other | All levels | C5: Why and How Legal Services Attorneys and Others Should Do Regulatory Advocacy | Kate Muñoz (Consumer Rights Regulatory Engagement and Advocacy Project) & Diane Thompson (National Consumer Law Center) | Pressing client needs make it tempting to leave regulatory advocacy to groups in DC or state capitals. But attorneys who see problems on the ground have unique and essential expertise that must be brought to bear if we want the law to serve our clients’ interests and reflect their lived experiences. Former CFPB officials will share information about how to be an effective advocate with the CFPB, no matter the administration, including holding it accountable to its mission and opportunities for constructive engagement. We’ll discuss how to fit regulatory advocacy into your consumer practice and touch on LSC rules. | |
40 | 1:00PM-2:30PM | Fair Debt | Intermediate | C6: Using the FDCPA to Effect Systemic Change | Carolyn Coffey (Mobilization for Justice) & Matthew Schedler (CAMBA Legal Services) | Even though the FDCPA does not provide for injunctive relief, advocates have been able to obtain results that have eliminated bad practices. This session will explore strategies aimed at addressing bad debt collector practices, including how to use state laws that provide for injunctive relief, how to negotiate injunctions when injunctive relief is not provided, and how a good decision can work as its own injunction. We will also explore what types of relief should be sought and examine cases where systemic change was effected, including Fritz v. Resurgent, Sykes v. Mel S Harris, and Morales v. Kavulich. | |
41 | 3:00PM-5:00PM | Strategy Summit | S2: School Litigation Strategy Summit | Advocates will convene to discuss live topics in student loan law. Potential topics include: finding plaintiffs, arbitration issues, and learning from tools used in other types of advocacy. | |||
42 | 3:00PM-4:00PM | Auto | Beginner/Intermediate | C7: Credit Math for Car Cases | Carolyn Carter (National Consumer Law Center) & Tom Domonoske (Consumer Litigation Associates) | Credit Math for Car Cases- The ability to carefully and thoroughly review auto finance transactions for compliance with state and federal requirements is an important skill for consumer advocates handling car cases. This session will help participants better understand credit math issues in car finance such as add-on interest rates and rebate and APR calculations, and will provide an introduction to RISA and TILA issues, with practical tips for reviewing auto finance transactions. | |
43 | 3:00PM-4:15PM | Strategy Summit | All levels | S3: Foreclosure and Mortgage Servicing Issues Strategy Summit | Facilitator: Sarah Mancini, Andrea Bopp Stark, Alys Cohen, Geoff Walsh, and Steve Sharpe (National Consumer Law Center) | This strategy summit will be an opportunity to break into geographic groups (by state or region) for discussion of both litigation and policy strategies for dealing with foreclosure and mortgage servicing problems during the Covid-19 pandemic. | |
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45 | 5:00PM-6:00PM | Practice/Other | Intermediate | C8: Winning Motions to Compel [Session Recording Not Available for On Demand Viewing] | Jeff Gentes (Connecticut Fair Housing Center) & Jennifer Rosenberg (Bramson, Plutzik, Mahler & Birkhaeuser) | This session will cover many of the considerations and tactics to use when heading towards a motion to compel, along with the drawbacks and judge- and District-specific issues that may arise. We’ll start before a case is filed and go all the way to enforcing a motion to compel order with a sanctions motion. | |
46 | 5:00PM-6:30PM | Practice/Ethics | Beginner | C9: Ethical Implications of the Taxation of Attorney’s Fees [Session Recording Not Available for On Demand Viewing] | Brian Bromberg (Bromberg Law Office, PC), Elizabeth Maresca (Fordham Law School), & Ira Rheingold (National Association of Consumer Advocates) | This session will address how the taxation of attorneys' fee recoveries may affect clients and the ethical implications for your attorney-client relationship -- from ideas for drafting fee agreements to advice about settlements. | |
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48 | Friday, November 13th | ||||||
49 | Times (ET) | Track | Level | Title | Speakers | Description | |
50 | 11:00AM-12:00PM | Practice/Other | Intermediate | D1: Using Amended Rule 30(b)(6) to Your Best Advantage | Jennie Anderson (Andrus Anderson) & Lauren Barnes (Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP) | A focus on the recent amendments to Rule 30(b)(6), including the changes that were adopted and the proposals that were rejected, and what it now means for successfully taking depositions of organizations in your cases. | |
51 | 11:00AM-12:00PM | Auto | Intermediate | D2: Repo in the time of COVID-19 | John Van Alst (National Consumer Law Center) | The pandemic has had an impact both on how and when repossessions are conducted and on the claims and defenses that may be available to consumers who have had their cars repossessed. This session will explore the issues raised by repossessions conducted during the pandemic. | |
52 | 11:00AM-12:30PM | Credit | Advanced | D3: Attacking State Usury Law Evasions | Nikolai Frant (Colorado Department of Law), Adam Levitin (Georgetown Law), & Lauren Saunders (National Consumer Law Center) | High-cost lenders are increasingly trying to exploit banks’ preemption rights by laundering their loans through banks to evade state rate caps. “Rent-a-bank” schemes are being used not only by online installment lenders but also auto title lenders, point-of-sale financing offered on tablets in stores, and small business loans that imperil the owner’s home. The legal landscape is messy and evolving rapidly. Federal bank regulators are weighing in with rules of questionable legality to protect rent-a-bank schemes, while state atttorneys general are starting to have success in fighting back. Picking the right cases, defendants and theories is critical. This session will describe what is happening, the status of the law, and doctrines like “Madden,” “valid-when-made” and “true lender.” | |
53 | 1:00PM-2:00PM | Other/Practice | Beginner | D4: Exploring the Important Connections Between Consumer and Worker Advocacy | Gina Chiala (Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom) & David Seligman (Towards Justice) | More than ever, consumer advocates need to be aware of their clients' rights with respect to state and federal employee laws, how violations of such laws also may implicate consumer protection laws and why we need to work closely with members of the employee protection bar. | |
54 | 1:00PM-2:30PM | Student Loans | Intermediate | D5: Helping Student Loan Borrowers Who Have Been Harmed By Their Schools [Session Recording Not Available for On Demand Viewing] | Robyn Smith (National Consumer Law Center) & Kyra Taylor (National Consumer Law Center) | This session will provide participants with an overview of the types of claims that advocates can bring on behalf of borrowers who have been harmed by predatory colleges, universities, and trade schools. Speakers will review current and recent litigation that advocates have brought on behalf of students. | |
55 | 1:00PM-2:30PM | Live Q&A | L1: New Debt Collection Regulations Live Q&A | Andrea Bopp Stark & April Kuehnhoff (National Consumer Law Center) | The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized part one of its debt collection rules on October 30th. A recorded webinar summarizing those rules is available here. This session is a Q&A to answer questions about the content of these regulations. We recommend watching the recorded webinar or reading the final rules before attending the Q&A. | ||
56 | 3:00PM-4:00PM | Live Office Hours | All levels | L2: Questions and Answers on Regulatory Advocacy with Former CFPB Officials | Will Corbett (Center for Responsible Lending), Seth Frotman (Student Borrower Protection Center), Kate Muñoz (Consumer Rights Regulatory Engagement and Advocacy Project), & Rebecca Smullin (Public Citizen) | This will be a live question and answer session on regulatory at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other federal agencies with former CFPB officials. | |
57 | 3:00PM-4:15PM | Practice/Other | Beginner | D6: Consumer and Economic Civil Legal Issues for Survivors of Domestic Violence | Carla Leticia Sanchez-Adams (Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc.) & Erika Sussman (Center for Survivor Agency & Justice) | This presentation will provide an overview of consumer and economic civil legal issues faced by survivors of domestic violence, screening for consumer issues and strategies on how to address these issues. This session will also focus on why it is important to resolve a domestic violence survivor's economic issues. | |
58 | 3:00PM-4:30PM | Fair Debt/Debt Defense | Beginner | D7: Your Client is Being Sued on a Debt: What Now? A Primer on Defeating Debt Collection Lawsuits | Tashi Lhewa (The Legal Aid Society), Farah Majid (Legal Services Alabama), & Joe Villasenor (Legal Aid Society of San Diego, Inc.); Moderator: Andrea Bopp Stark (National Consumer Law Center) | This session will address defense of collection actions: who the players are, how the debt collection industry works, what causes of action debt collectors are likely to assert and how to respond to them, and how to enforce the rules of evidence. We will walk through a hypothetical case and identify the key strategic considerations. | |
59 | 5:00PM-6:00PM | Women in Consumer Law Networking Event | |||||
60 | 5:00PM-6:45PM | Strategy Summit | All levels | S4: FCRA Happy Hour | Facilitators: Sarah Mancini, Ariel Nelson, & Chi Chi Wu (National Consumer Law Center) | During this virtual happy hour, participants will join small groups, facilitated by a practitioner or expert. Groups will either discuss a particular FCRA issue, such as employment and tenant screening reports, or focus on an aspect or expertise level of FCRA litigation. Groups will be limited by size; participants must sign up prior to the happy hour for a group. | |
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62 | Saturday, November 14th | Register NOW! | ||||||
63 | Times (ET) | Track | Title | Speakers | Description | ||
64 | 11:00 AM | Plenary (Potential) | |||||
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67 | Open Tab Two to View Week Two of the Consumer Rights Litigation Conference | ||||||