Settlement Agreement is a Victory in CFPB Lawsuit

This week, the Biden CFPB agreed to favorably settle a lawsuit brought by DemocracyForward against the Trump CFPB on behalf of U.S. PIRG, National Association of Consumer Advocates and Professor Kathleen Engel over its creation of an illegal “Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law.” This document describes the terms. Excerpt from document downloadable from this page:

WHEREAS Plaintiffs have filed this action against Defendants challenging the creation and operation of the Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law (“Taskforce”) under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (“FACA”); and

WHEREAS this Court denied Defendants’ Partial Motion to Dismiss for lack of jurisdiction on February 25, 2021; and

WHEREAS the parties agree that Defendants violated FACA when they established the Taskforce, that Defendants’ operation of the Taskforce violated FACA’s requirements, and that the Taskforce’s Report was not produced by a FACA-compliant advisory committee; and

WHEREAS the parties have reached a settlement agreement requiring Defendants to release all Taskforce records, amend the Taskforce’s final report to include a disclaimer making clear that Defendants violated FACA when they created and operated the Taskforce, move the Taskforce webpage to the Advisory Committees Page, and issue a press release notifying the public of this settlement; and

WHEREAS continuing this litigation would be costly to all parties involved and the decision by the district court would be subject to appeal by the losing parties with the final outcome uncertain; and

WHEREAS the parties believe that settlement of this action is in their best interests and best serves the interests of the public;

NOW THEREFORE Plaintiffs and Defendants enter into this Stipulated Settlement Agreement (“the Agreement”), stipulate that it constitutes the full and complete resolution of the issues raised in this action, and agree to the following, and the Court orders as follows: