TitleMax of Delaware, Inc. v. Dept. of Banking & Securities

CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 21, 2026
Docket635 & 811 C.D. 2025
StatusUnpublished
AuthorWojcik

This text of TitleMax of Delaware, Inc. v. Dept. of Banking & Securities (TitleMax of Delaware, Inc. v. Dept. of Banking & Securities) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
TitleMax of Delaware, Inc. v. Dept. of Banking & Securities, (Pa. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

TitleMax of Delaware, Inc., TitleMax of : CASES CONSOLIDATED Ohio, Inc., TitleMax of Virginia, Inc., : TitleMax of South Carolina, Inc., : TitleMax Funding, Inc., TMX : Finance LLC, TMX Finance : Corporate Services, Inc., CCFI : Companies, LLC, and all Successors : or Predecessors in Interest, Affiliates, : Subsidiaries, or Parent Companies, : However Named, : : Petitioners : : v. : No. 635 C.D. 2025 : No. 811 C.D. 2025 Department of Banking and Securities, : Argued: February 4, 2026 : Respondent :

BEFORE: HONORABLE MICHAEL H. WOJCIK, Judge HONORABLE LORI A. DUMAS, Judge HONORABLE MARY HANNAH LEAVITT, Senior Judge

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION BY JUDGE WOJCIK FILED: April 21, 2026

TitleMax of Delaware, Inc., TitleMax of Ohio, Inc., TitleMax of Virginia, Inc., TitleMax of South Carolina, Inc., TitleMax Funding, Inc., TMX Finance LLC, TMX Finance Corporate Services, Inc., CCFI Companies, LLC (collectively, TitleMax or Petitioners), petition for review from two determinations of the Banking and Securities Commission (Commission), denying TitleMax’s motions to dismiss proceedings before the Department of Banking and Securities (Department) based on a lack of jurisdiction. TitleMax operates or has operated in several states through companies that are or were licensed to provide or facilitate consumer loans secured by a borrower’s automobile. TitleMax disburses the loan proceeds to borrowers, and the borrowers grant TitleMax a security interest in their motor vehicles. In the underlying administrative proceeding, the Department sought to regulate TitleMax’s consumer lending activity under the Consumer Discount Company Act, Act of April 8, 1937, P.L. 262, as amended, 7 P.S. §§6201-6219 (CDCA), and the Loan Interest and Protection Law, Act of January 30, 1974, P.L. 13, as amended, 41 P.S. §§101- 605 (LIPL). In June of 2024, the Department’s Compliance Office filed an Order to Show Cause (OSC), seeking to impose $52.7 million in civil penalties against TitleMax, plus restitution. The OSC alleges that TitleMax (i) entered into 5,270 consumer loan agreements with Pennsylvania residents; (ii) took a security interest in the borrowers’ motor vehicles; (iii) recorded the liens with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (DOT); and (iv) repossessed vehicles in Pennsylvania after Pennsylvania-resident borrowers defaulted. TitleMax claims that it does not do business in Pennsylvania, and, thus, the Department does not have jurisdiction to conduct its investigation. In August of 2024, upon learning of the filing of the OSC, TitleMax filed six federal civil rights actions under 42 U.S.C. §1983 against Department Secretary Wendy S. Spicher, challenging the Department’s ability to control business activity, including origination of loans, occurring exclusively outside of the Commonwealth of

2 Pennsylvania, even where such loans were made or facilitated to Pennsylvania consumers. Each of the suits asked a federal court to enjoin the Secretary and her agents from continuing to seek to regulate TitleMax and from continuing the OSC proceeding.1 TitleMax requested that the hearing examiner stay the OSC proceeding to allow time for the federal courts to adjudicate their claims. The hearing examiner initially denied the request. TitleMax requested reconsideration and the hearing examiner then granted the stay. The Department appealed to the Commission. The Commission lifted the stay and directed TitleMax to file answers to the OSC. TitleMax filed a petition for review from the Commission’s order with this Court and requested a stay pending appeal. See TitleMax of Delaware, Inc. v. Department of Banking and Securities (Pa. Cmwlth., No. 1697 C.D. 2024) (TitleMax I). This Court denied the application for stay pending appeal.2 The Department proceeded to file an application to dismiss, arguing that the Commission’s order was not a final order because it did not put TitleMax out of court and did not end TitleMax’s efforts to defend against the charges asserted in the OSC. The Department further argued that the Commission’s order was not a collateral order under Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 313, Pa.R.A.P. 313, because TitleMax’s claims would not be irreparably lost if they were forced to

1 It appears that TitleMax was unsuccessful in all the cases and that it appealed from those determinations. The Department advises that the dismissal orders were affirmed in two United States Courts of Appeals. Department’s Supplemental Brief, 2/13/2026, at 6 n.4.

2 The Court held that “being subjected to the Department’s statutorily authorized investigative process does not result in irreparable harm, especially given that TitleMax has administrative remedies of which it has not availed itself, in addition to the remedy of appealing any adverse ruling of the Commission to this Court.” TitleMax I, Memorandum and Order, January 30, 2025 (Wojcik, J.), slip op. at 8. 3 participate in the OSC proceedings. TitleMax responded, setting forth multiple reasons why the Commission’s order was appealable pursuant to several rules of appellate procedure. Ultimately, the Court granted the application to dismiss. TitleMax I, Memorandum and Order, May 28, 2025 (McCullough, J.). After its appeal to this Court was unsuccessful, TitleMax filed a motion to dismiss the OSC. In its motion, TitleMax argued that the Department was acting beyond its statutory authority and that it lacked personal jurisdiction because proper service had not been accomplished. The hearing examiner issued a “proposed adjudication” denying the motion to dismiss. TitleMax’s Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 992a. The hearing officer proceeded to issue an order scheduling a prehearing conference and requiring the exchange of exhibits. It appears that TitleMax then emailed the hearing examiner to inquire whether she intended to refer or recertify the proposed adjudication to the Commission. The hearing examiner responded that she did not intend to do so. TitleMax sought review of the proposed adjudication by filing a “motion to refer and/or certify respondents’ motion to dismiss to the Banking Commission and to stay the prehearing conference and related deadlines” pursuant

4 to 1 Pa. Code §35.180(a)3 and 1 Pa. Code §35.187(8).4 R.R. at 1041a. The hearing examiner denied TitleMax’s motion to refer and/or certify its motion to dismiss on March 18, 2025. On March 28, 2025, TitleMax filed an “appeal to the Commission of proposed adjudication denying [TitleMax’s] motion to dismiss, order denying [TitleMax’s] request that the motion be certified to the Commission and order requiring pre-hearing conference to go forward.” Certified Record (C.R.) at No. 45.

3 This Section of the Pennsylvania Code provides:

(a) The presiding officer designated to preside at a hearing is authorized to rule upon any motion not formally acted upon by the agency head prior to the commencement of the hearing where immediate ruling is essential in order to proceed with the hearing, and upon any motion filed or made after the commencement of the hearing and prior to the submission of his proposed report in the proceedings, except that no motion made before or during a hearing, a ruling upon which would involve or constitute a final determination of the proceeding, shall be ruled upon by a presiding officer except as a part of his proposed report submitted after the conclusion of the hearing. A presiding officer may refer any motion to the agency head for ultimate determination. The agency head will rule upon all other motions and upon such motions as presiding officers may certify to the agency head for disposition. 1 Pa. Code §35.180(a).

4 This Section of the Pennsylvania Code states:

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Bluebook (online)
TitleMax of Delaware, Inc. v. Dept. of Banking & Securities, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/titlemax-of-delaware-inc-v-dept-of-banking-securities-pacommwct-2026.