Steven M. McCartan

Steve has 20 years of experience representing financial-services, insurance, and other business clients.  His focus is in three areas:

• Collecting payment on business contracts, including audited insurance premium and loan enforcement, in civil/bankruptcy court;
• Defending counterclaims arising from contract enforcement; and
• Defending individual and class consumer protection claims, both in court and arbitrations, including claims under:
• ECOA
• FDCPA
• FCRA
• Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act
• State Consumer Protection Statutes
• TILA

Steve manages litigation in these areas throughout the United States. By handling cases through a single source, there are enormous strategic and economic benefits to clients. Among other things, this structure facilitates greater consistency of approach in handling disputes. In using a single firm to handle the litigation across geographic lines—in some cases, working with local firms—it creates institutional knowledge that helps to manage costs and achieve better outcomes.

Representative Matters

Class Actions

• Resolved a consumer class action involving an alleged unlawful fee with client paying no damages;
• Obtained an order denying class certification of a proposed 18-state class action involving consumer claims in the title insurance industry.

Consumer Protection

• Managed portfolio of consumer-protection lawsuits and arbitrations—across the United States—for large financial-services provider;
• Secured Tenth Circuit ruling upholding dismissal of Truth in Lending Act (TILA) claim for failure to timely contest credit card transactions;
• Secured judgment for a financial institution against a debtor asserting defense under Regulation B of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act; and
• Secured summary judgment on a claim that a finance company's collection action constituted a malicious prosecution against the debtor.

Commercial Recoveries

• Secured a full judgment of nearly $300,000 in insurance premium in dispute related to an insurance audit over the coding of workers;
• Recovered full subpoena costs incurred by client in having to respond to burdensome subpoena obligations.

Counterclaim Defense

• Trial victory in dispute over staffing company fee, in which defendant asserted a counterclaim alleging fraud;
• Secured ruling from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York upholding dismissal of state consumer protection claim contradicting contractual terms.