On May 15, the Supreme Court held that a debt collector does not violate the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) by knowingly attempting to collect a debt in bankruptcy proceedings after the statute of limitations for collecting that debt has expired. As explained in Mayer Brown’s Decision Alerts, the FDCPA generally prohibits a
Brian Netter
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The Risks of Changing One’s Mind
By Brian Netter on
It is by now settled that federal agencies have broad authority to fill the gaps left by Congress. When an agency has been entrusted with administering an ambiguous statute, the agency’s interpretation need only be “reasonable” to be controlling in court.
The implied premise of so-called Chevron deference is that there will sometimes be more than one “reasonable” course that an agency might choose. The agency’s choice may well be driven by ideological concerns—the sorts of concerns that sometimes change with the winds of political change.
So what to do when an agency changes its mind?
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