A Tennessee federal judge on Friday declined to issue an emergency order blocking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau‘s rule requiring landlords to inform tenants about federal protections put in place amid the pandemic, finding that the rule doesn’t apply to the Sixth Circuit and the landlords’ theory is “internally inconsistent.”

The group of landlords was seeking a temporary restraining order blocking the CFPB rule, which would require debt collectors seeking to evict tenants to disclose that the tenants may be eligible for eviction protection under a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention order.

The Property Management Connection LLC, the National Association of Residential Property Managers and Gordon J. Schoeffler had argued that the CFPB rule would force landlords to make “untrue statements to tenants who have been sued for unpaid rent, and are subject to eviction.” The landlords claim that the rule violates the First Amendment because it requires false speech.

Published by Law 360

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