User:Chesapeake7/sandbox

Alan S. Kaplinsky is an American lawyer. He heads the consumer financial services practice at Ballard Spahr. Kaplinsky pioneered the use of pre-dispute arbitration provisions in consumer contracts and has written and lectured extensively on the subject. A leading law firm ranking organization described Kaplinsky as “a guru of consumer financial services on both the regulatory and litigation sides” and commented that he “has earned his well-deserved national reputation.”

Career
After graduating from Boston College Law School in 1970 , Kaplinsky clerked for Judge John Biggs, Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit before joining the Philadelphia law firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen.

In 1995, Kaplinsky joined Ballard Spahr LLP along with several colleagues from the Wolf Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen, to found a consumer financial services practice at Ballard Spahr. Kaplinsky is best known for pioneering the use of arbitration provisions in the consumer finance area, including credit cards and auto loans. He is the first lawyer in the country to include class action waiver language in arbitration clauses that require consumers to individually arbitrate any dispute.

Class action waiver provisions have been controversial and were strongly opposed by some consumer advocacy groups.

After more than a decade of litigation over the enforceability of class action waivers, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion (April 27, 2011) that such waivers are enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act. Kaplinsky filed an amicus brief in the Concepcion case on behalf of the American Bankers Association, Consumer Bankers Association and other trade groups.

Academia
Kaplinsky was the first president of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers (1996-1998) and chair of the Committee on Consumer Financial Services of the Section of Business Law of the American Bar Association (1986-1990). He has chaired the Practising Law Institute’s Annual Institute on Consumer Financial Services since its inception in 1995.

Notable Cases
Beneficial National Bank v. Anderson, 539 U.S. 1 (2003) (allowing national banks to remove usury cases to federal court)

Gipson v. Cross Country Bank, Civil Action No. 2:03cv269-A, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1400 (M.D. Ala. Jan. 28, 2005) (enjoining plaintiff from disobeying court order enforcing class action waiver) Green Tree Fin. Corp. v. Bazzle, 539 U.S. 444 (2003) (reversing $30 million judgment against company imposed by arbitrator)

Greenwood Trust Co. v Hunter, 517 US 1241(1996) and Greenwood Trust Co. v. Massachusetts, 971 F.2d 818 (1st Cir. 1992), cert denied, 506 U.S. 1052 (1993)(allowing credit-card issuer to export nationwide the late fees allowed under laws of its home state)

Harris v. Green Tree Financial Corp., 183 F.3d 173 (3rd Cir. 1999) (upholding validity of residential mortgage lender's self-administered arbitration clause program)

Huggins v. Citibank, N.A., 355 S.C. 329, 585 S.E.2d 275 (S.Car. 2003) (refusing to recognize cause of action for “negligent enablement of impostor fraud”) Jenkins v. First American Cash Advance of Georgia, Inc., 400 F.3d 868 (11th Cir. 2005), cert. denied, 126 S. Ct. 1457 (2006) (holding that class action waiver in payday loan arbitration agreement was not unconscionable under Georgia law)

Midwest Title Loans v. Mills, 593 F.3d 660(7th Cir. 2010), cert. denied, 131 S.Ct. 83 (2010) (Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution precludes Indiana from applying its Uniform Consumer Credit Code to loans made in person in Illinois to Indiana residents)(client later recovered $440,000 in attorneys' fees from Indiana under “prevailing party” provisions of Section 1988(b) of Civil Rights Act)

Missouri Title Loans, Inc. v. Brewer, No. 10-1027, 2011 U.S. LEXIS 3378 (U.S. May 2, 2011) (U.S. Supreme Court vacating judgment of the Missouri Supreme Court, which had held that a class action waiver in an automobile title loan was unconscionable under state law)

Murray v. Cross Country Bank, 399 F. Supp. 2d 845 (N.D. Ill. 2005) (holding as matter of first impression that private right of action does not exist under Section 1681m(d) of Fair Credit Reporting Act)

Pellett v. TCF Bank, N.A., Civil Action No. 10-3943 (D. Minn. Nov. 24, 2010) (holding as a matter of first impression that the Federal Arbitration Act preempts the policies underlying the federal multidistrict litigation rules)

Rosen v. Saks Inc., 2003 Ill. App. LEXIS 1252 (Ct. App., 1st Dist. Oct. 8, 2003), review denied, 2004 Ill. LEXIS 142 (Ill. Jan. 28, 2004) (holding as a matter of first impression that class action waiver in arbitration agreement not unconscionable under Illinois law)