On March 3, a lending company and its affiliates petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for rehearing of a January ruling that upheld a $134 million restitution order in favor of the CFPB (covered by InfoBytes here). Specifically, the petition argued that: (i) a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Liu v. SEC (2019), established that monetary relief exceeding net profits triggers one’s jury trial rights; and (ii) the company could not have waived its right to a jury trial in 2016 because at the time there was no such right to waive.
The petition challenged a 2016 Ninth Circuit decision holding that restitution claims do not trigger jury trial rights. According to the petition, this precedent conflicted with Supreme Court cases and creates a circuit split with the 5th Circuit. The company argued that because it operated the lending program at a $30 million loss, any restitution award exceeding net profits must be characterized as legal rather than equitable relief; thus, requiring a jury trial under the Seventh Amendment.
