Leandra English has officially dropped her lawsuit against President Donald Trump and acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) director Mick Mulvaney.
English suddenly announced her resignation last week as the CFPB’s deputy director. She had been embroiled in a federal lawsuit since then-director Richard Cordray left office.
“Having announced her resignation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Leandra English hereby moves for voluntary dismissal of this appeal under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 42(b), with each side to bear its own costs,” English stated in a court filing July 9 with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. “The defendants-appellees consent to this motion.”
RESPRO President and Executive Director Ken Trepeta said English’s decision to resign and drop the suit means the end of the ongoing confusion over who actually is in charge of the CFPB.
“This clears up any doubt about who is and will be running the bureau,” Trepeta told RESPA News. “Even before this, acting director Mulvaney was clearly in charge. This removes the last challenge to that. I think people thought there was a slim chance English could prevail and things could revert back. That is not going to happen now.”
English’s latest appeal had been pending in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals after oral arguments were conducted in April. She voluntarily dismissed the case July 9.
Before resigning, Cordray appointed English as deputy director to succeed him. English sued the defendants after Trump tapped Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, as acting director in November.
English previously announced she filed the suit to stand up for the law.
“The Dodd-Frank Act mandates the deputy director ‘shall … serve as the acting director in the absence or unavailability of the director,’ ” she stated in the suit.
“I think the industry will feel even more secure in its dealings with Mulvaney and his staff,” Trepeta said of the lawsuit dismissal.
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