CFPB's Constitutionality And Director's Interpretation Challenged

Anthony E. DiResta and Kwamina Thomas Williford are Partners and Brian Goodrich is an Associate in our Washington, D.C. office.

In oral argument on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, counsel for PHH Corporation (PHH) argued that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is unconstitutional. Counsel for PHH did so in a challenge to a $109 penalty levied against PHH for violating the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). In levying the $109 million penalty, PHH argued that CFPB Director Richard Cordray ran "rough-shod" over existing law. Counsel for the CFPB defended the agency's constitutionality and responded to substantial push-back from the bench.