Louis v. Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited, Inc.
The Military Lending Act (MLA) provides a variety of protections to American servicemembers and their dependents in consumer financial markets. The plaintiffs in this case, a servicemember and his wife, took out a loan to purchase a timeshare. That loan included a mandatory arbitration clause and failed to include certain required disclosures. Under the MLA, that renders the loan void. The Bureau, along with the Federal Trade Commission, filed an amicus brief arguing that the plaintiffs have Article III standing to bring suit to recover the amounts they paid on that void contract and to confirm the contract’s invalidity.
To have standing, a plaintiff must suffer an injury-in-fact that is traceable to the defendant’s conduct and redressable by an order of the court. The Bureau’s brief argues that the plaintiffs in this case have standing because: (1) they made a down payment on a void and illegal loan, and (2) their economic injury is traceable to the illegal and void loan and redressable by an order of the court that, for example, awards them restitution. Because the plaintiffs have alleged a sufficient interest in the outcome of the dispute, the court should hear the case and adjudicate their claims on the merits.