BackPress Releases

Team Assists Client in TILA Claim

Washington, DC, partner George Kostel and Columbia associate Steven McFarland recently prevailed on a motion to dismiss Truth in Lending Act claim against a lender client.

The court found that the client adequately disclosed the right to rescind the plaintiff's loan  transaction and it was not "under-disclosed" as a result of the separate right to rescind only the arbitration provision, which was invoked using a different process than that for rescinding the entire transaction. As a result of the adequate disclosure, the three-day period to rescind was not extended, and Plaintiff's election to rescind was untimely.

The court also construed a Virginia statute that precludes lenders from requiring borrowers to select a particular title company, but found it does not give the "borrower the right to select the insurer on behalf of the lender." Therefore, the exclusion of the title insurance charge from the finance charge disclosure was bona fide.

The case is Gonzalez v. Beneficial Mortgage Co. of Va. and was decided by Judge Turk of the US District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke.