Several Georgians borrowed modest sums and secured those loans
using the proceeds they might recover on personal injury claims.
Repayment of the loans was contingent on the borrowers'
recovering on their personal injury claims. The borrowers filed a
lawsuit against the lenders in Georgia state court alleging that
the interest rates on the loans were usurious and violated the
Georgia's Payday Lending Act and Industrial Loan Act. The
lenders removed the case to federal court and argued that the loan
agreements required such a lawsuit to be filed in Illinois and also
forbid class actions. But, could those requirements be
enforced?
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
concluded that those requirements could not be enforced. Davis
v. Oasis Legal Finance Operating Co., Inc., Case No. 18-10526
(decided August 27, 2019). The Court concluded that the forum
selection clause conflicted with a provision in the Payday Lending
Act that prevented a lender
