Last week’s closely-watched appeals court ruling in the wrangling between PHH Mortgage and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over Section 8 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act is being widely viewed by many as a clipping of the agency’s wings. But expectations about just how restrained the CFPB will be in enforcement actions going forward vary from compliance attorney to compliance attorney. Lawyers with the Stinson Leonard Street law firm pointed out that the director still holds all of the same enforcement power as before, despite the court’s conclusion that the bureau’s leadership structure, with a sole, independent director who can only be removed for cause, is unconstitutional. “For example, the CFPB administrative appeals process is...