Center for Responsible Lending is a non-profit policy, advocacy, and research organization dedicated to exposing and eliminating abusive practices in the market for consumer financial services.  Public Justice is a national public interest legal organization, specializing in precedent-setting, socially significant civil litigation, with a focus on fighting to preserve access to justice for victims of corporate and governmental misconduct.

In a recent case, Barbara Fawcett vs. Citizens bank, N.A., Fawcett is seeking a panel rehearing or en banc hearing in the First Circuit Court of Appeals.  They argue the decision was a misapplication of Auer v. Robbins, 519 U.S. 452 (1997).  This misapplication presents a question of exceptional importance concerning how and when federal courts should or must defer to administrative agency statements.  Bryan Gowdy filed a brief of amici curiae in support of Fawcett's motion for rehearing and rehearing en banc arguing the court should immerse itself into the "regulatory text and history," to interpret the words in 12 U.S.C. § 85 and grant rehearing or rehearing en banc and vacate the panel's opinion.

Creed & Gowdy, P.A. represented the respondent in a 2nd DCA certiorari review of an order overruling objections to deposition questions and compelling additional depositions in an automobile negligence action.  This case was concerned with the plain language of the "accident report privilege" set forth in section 316.066(4), Florida Statutes, and whether it shielded information from pretrial discovery.  The petition was denied stating that the current version of section 316.066(4) did not create a true privilege precluding the disclosure of statements of individuals involved in an accident for the purpose of completing a crash report. Instead, it is a law of admissibility that precludes the use of these statements at trial.

Creed & Gowdy, P.A. represented a City of Jacksonville firefighter/paramedic who filed a petition for workers' compensation benefits for authorization to treat with a cardiologist for his atrial fibrillation. The Judge of Compensation Claims (JCC) granted the petition, but the City of Jacksonville appealed and argued the JCC had misapplied Florida's statutory presumption that a firefighter's heart disease is attributable to his employment as a firefighter. The First District Court of Appeal sided with the firefighter and affirmed the JCC. 

Daniel Mahfood of Creed & Gowdy, P.A. provided representation to the wife in a contested marriage-dissolution proceeding. Daniel defeated each of the husband's asserted errors through procedural arguments relating to the husband's failure to provide a transcript and preserve arguments through a timely motion for rehearing. The wife also received an order entitling her to fees for the appeal.

Creed & Gowdy was one of four law firms representing a class of customers who sued Bank of America for charging overdraft fees. Creed & Gowdy served as lead appellate counsel for the class.  The federal district court in the Southern District of California approved the class's settlement with the bank. In its order, the court stated the following about the law firms representing the class:  "Class Counsel achieved this result through tenacity and great skill. In all of their written submissions and in their presentation at the Final Approval Hearing, Class Counsel's arguments were laudably clear and precise, no small feat given the complexity of the legal questions at issue here. It is clear that substantial preparation went into all of Class Counsel's work on this case."

Click here to read the entire order.

To read Law 360's article on the class settlement, click here.