Mariani SCRANTON, Pa. (Legal Newsline) – Navient’s defense in a lawsuit brought by a federal agency is headed down a detour, as the company has successfully asked to appeal a recent decision. As a result of Pennsylvania federal judge Robert Mariani’s Feb. 26 ruling, Navient, the nation’s largest student loan processor, can ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to throw out the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s lawsuit. The CFPB claims Navient pushes forbearance, in which payments are suspended as interest continues to grow, on students struggling to pay back loans. The company has claimed it is an effort to regulate its practices through litigation and actual education agencies – and not the CFPB, which tracks financial institutions – should be in charge of any changes.