Think Finance Tribal Lending

Berman Tabacco served as co-lead counsel in nationwide class action litigation brought on behalf of individuals who took out high interest rate loans from two tribal lenders affiliated with a Texas-based payday lender, Think Finance: Plain Green, an online lender that purports to be an arm of the Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation and Great Plains Lending (“GPL”), an online lender that purported to be an arm of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe. Plaintiffs alleged that Think Finance and other individuals and entities unaffiliated with the Tribes created Plain Green and GPL in a “rent-a-tribe” scheme designed to circumvent state and federal law, including RICO, usury laws, and other laws against high-interest “payday loans,” to make small-dollar loans that carried annual interest rates in excess of 360%. The loan agreements associated with plaintiffs’ loans purported to be governed by the laws of the Tribes (not the law of the borrower’s home state or federal law), and sought to force all disputes into arbitration that would be governed by tribal law only.  Berman Tabacco and their co-counsel played a leading role in the development and prosecution of the litigation as nationwide RICO class actions – including at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court – and the successful resolution of claims against Think Finance and related entities that provided over $47 million in relief to consumer borrowers.