The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking to exclude former director Richard Cordray and Robert Weltman, the senior shareholder of Weltman Weinberg and Reis, as a trial between the two is set to start next week.
The CFPB filed a lawsuit against Weltman last April for allegedly violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act by sending collection letters that made it appear as though they came from a lawyer and calling consumers and falsely misrepresenting that a lawyer was involved. Weltman had vowed to defend the lawsuit, saying it was filed after the firm refused to be “strong-armed” into signing a consent order with the regulator.
Prior to joining the CFPB, Cordray was the attorney general of Ohio, which hired Weltman Weinberg to collect on debts owed to the state. It’s interesting to see the CFPB so defiantly seeking to keep its former director from testifying in a case that was brought while he was leading the agency. From the CFPB’s motion:
The prospect of Mr. Cordray testifying is problematic for several reasons. First, there is a significant risk of confusion, undue delay, or unfair prejudice if Mr. Cordray were to testify regarding WWR practices that are different from those at issue here. Assuming such evidence would even be relevant, Mr. Cordray’s testimony regarding practices he encountered as Ohio Attorney General could easily be confused by the jury with the practices at issue here. The jury likewise could confuse evidence of WWR’s alleged belief that its collection of the State’s debts using different practices and different letters was compliant with the law to find either that WWR is not liable for its collection letters and practices in this action or that the amount of any civil money penalty should be reduced.
A copy of the motion can be accessed by clicking here.
In seeking to exclude Weltman, the CFPB is alleging that the firm failed to disclose him as a witness in a timely manner.
