Prescott v. Seterus Opinion Update

In mid-December, Brock & Scott, PLLC sent out communication advising its clients of a recent decision, issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Prescott v. Seterus, Inc., 2015 WL 7769235 (11th Cir. Dec. 3, 2015), which has impacted business operations in states within the 11th Circuit (Alabama, Florida and Georgia) and perhaps nationwide.

Based on the 11th Circuit’s ruling in Prescott the Firm urges all of its clients to immediately cease including in any payoff or reinstatement quotes any attorneys’ fees, costs or other charges not presently incurred as of the date of such quote, even though such charges will be incurred or become due under the terms of the loans documents within the period that the payoff or reinstatement quote is made good through.

In the event that the Firm does send reinstatement or payoff quotes to borrowers on behalf of a client, we have since changed our process to where these letters no longer include any estimated attorneys’ fees, costs or other charges that are not presently incurred, notwithstanding that these items may be incurred or become due prior to the expiry of the reinstatement or payoff quote.

The Firm continues to discuss, review and analyze internally several different strategies for addressing the 11th Circuit’s holding in Prescott, as well as ideas to modify and update business process to minimize the impact and disruption of the Prescott opinion. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to us through Ron Wolfe at (813) 342-2200 x3037 or via e-mail at ron.wolfe@brockandscott.com.