Court Rejects CFPB's RESPA Interpretation, Declares Single-Director Structure Unconstitutional

Today, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a ruling overturning a $109 million monetary penalty imposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB" or "Bureau"). The decision in PHH Corporation v. CFPB, written by Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh, addressed the unconstitutionality of the Bureau's structure and its retroactive application of a new RESPA interpretation, and imposed RESPA's three-year statute of limitations on the Bureau.

As indicated above, the D.C. Circuit's decision addressed the following three issues:

• It held, by a 2-1 vote, that the Bureau's structure violates the Constitution's separation-of-powers principles—because there is no multi-member bipartisan Commission and the single Director may be removed by the President only "for cause." The court's remedy was to invalidate the statutory provision permitting the President to remove the Director only for cause during the