K&L Gates Legal Insight: A Decision to Arbitrate in the Mountain State: The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Rejects Retroactive Application of the Dodd-Frank Act and Enforces Mandatory Arbitration Agreement in Residential Mortgage

By: R. Bruce Allensworth, Brian M. Forbes, Robert W. Sparkes, III

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals recently issued a decision addressing mandatory arbitration in connection with a residential mortgage loan that will impact litigants in the Mountain State and potentially influence cases beyond its borders. In a putative class action entitled State of West Virginia ex rel. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC v. The Honorable Carrie Webster, Judge of the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia; Robert L. Curry and Tina M. Curry, Individually and on behalf of a Similarly Situated Class (“Curry”), the Court considered whether the federal Dodd-Frank Act’s prohibition of mandatory arbitration agreements in residential mortgage loans could be applied retroactively to an arbitration agreement entered into almost four years before the Dodd-Frank Act was enacted. The few courts that had previously addressed the retroactivity of related arbitration prohibitions contained in the Dodd-Frank Act had reached conflicting outcomes. Addressing the issue head on, the highest appellate court in the state of West Virginia has now stated its view that the Dodd-Frank Act’s arbitration prohibition does not apply to a residential mortgage executed prior to its enactment. The Court then found the arbitration agreement at issue, and the class action wavier included therein, valid and enforceable under West Virginia state law.

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