Next, the court addressed the course action waiver
Loan providers had been barred from enforcing out-of-state forum selection clauses and class action waivers in loan agreements because such conditions violate Georgia’s general public policy, the Eleventh Circuit held in Davis v. Oasis Legal Finance working Co., 2019 WL 4051592 (11th Cir. Aug. 28, 2019). A course of borrowers whom joined into identical loan agreements sued their lenders, alleging that the agreements violated Georgia’s Payday Lending Act, O.C.G.A. § 16-17-1 et seq., Industrial Loan Act, O.C.G.A. § 7-3-1 https://cartitleloansplus.com/payday-loans-va/ et seq., and usury guidelines, O.C.G.A. § 7-4-18. Lenders relocated to dismiss the issue and strike the borrowers’ class allegations, arguing that the mortgage agreements’ forum selection clauses needed the borrowers to sue them in Illinois and therefore the course action waivers banned a course action. Siding aided by the borrowers, the region court denied the lenders’ motions, keeping that both clauses violated Georgia’s policy that is public had been unenforceable.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed on interlocutory appeal and in an opinion by Judge Adalberto Jordan. The court reasoned that in accordance with Georgia Supreme Court precedent, the Payday Lending Act establishes a clear public policy that prohibits loan providers from making use of out-of-state forum selection clauses: the Act expressly bars lenders from designating a court when it comes to quality of disputes “other compared to a court of competent jurisdiction in and also for the county where the debtor resides or the loan workplace is found. Read More