Civil Procedure › Antitrust & Trade Regulation › Finance & Banking

LIBOR Going Forward: How Will Dismissal of Antitrust Claims Effect Investigations and Private Claims?

We recently wrote about the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ antitrust claims against banks involved in the LIBOR manipulation scandal for failure to allege an antitrust injury. Since that dismissal, the court has granted...more

In re LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation: A Long Road Ahead

In a self-described “unexpected” ruling for the defendants in the consolidated LIBOR proceedings, Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald has dismissed the private plaintiffs’ antitrust and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations...more

Where (and What) Is the Harm?

The recent LIBOR suppression scandal has given rise to numerous lawsuits, both individual and putative class actions based on several theories of recovery, that have been consolidated in the Southern District of New York....more

Visa/MasterCard Interchange Fee Litigation – May 28, 2013 Deadline to Respond to Class Action Settlement Agreement

All entities that accept Visa- or MasterCard-branded credit and/or debit cards must decide, on or before May 28, 2013, how to respond to the settlement agreement with Visa and MasterCard on behalf of a class covering...more

Banks Shed Libor Antitrust Claims

On March 29, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the antitrust claims brought by plaintiffs in numerous consolidated actions against 23 financial institutions over their alleged...more

Update On Tribal Loans To State Residents

Native American tribes increasingly are engaging in consumer lending over the Internet. These “tribal loans” present unique legal questions and issues, including whether tribal sovereign immunity shields tribes and their...more

"UK’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills Proceeds with Private Competition Action Reforms"

The U.K.’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has issued a ‘government response’ or plan for reform indicating that the government will move forward with a number of substantial changes to the U.K.’s...more

Second Circuit Rules That Putative Auction Rate Securities Class Action Complaints Failed to Adequately Plead Antitrust Conspiracy

In Mayor and City Council of Baltimore v. Citigroup, Inc., No. 10-0722-cv(L) and 10-0867-cv(CON), 2013 WL 791397 (2d Cir. Mar. 5, 2013), the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of two...more

Mortgage Banking Update - March 08, 2013

In This Issue: - Kentucky County Clerks Cannot Sue MERS for Failure To Record Mortgage Assignments, Sixth Circuit Rules - Bipartisan Policy Center Proposes New Directions for National Housing Policy - FTC...more

Major Banks Argue That Libor Lawsuits Should Be Thrown Out

Lawyers for a number of the world’s biggest banks have asked a U.S. judge to throw out a collection of lawsuits accusing them of manipulating Libor, key interest rates, and cheating investors out of billions of dollars....more

McCarn v. HSBC USA, Inc.: A Federal Court Dismisses a Plaintiff's Attempt to Apply Antitrust-Conspiracy Principles to a Consumer...

On November 13, 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, in McCarn v. HSBC USA, Inc., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162257, issued an important decision rejecting as inadequate a plaintiff’s attempt to...more

Supreme Court to Hear Another Case on Class Arbitration Waivers

On November 9, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider the enforceability of a class action waiver clause in agreements between American Express and merchants that accepted its cards. The merchants filed a proposed...more

FTC Loses Motion in Unfair Billing Case Against Online Payday Loan Referral Service

On November 7, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida held that numerous factual issues prevented the court from granting summary judgment on the FTC’s claims that an online payday loan referral business...more

Eleventh Circuit Enters Split - and Silent - Decision on Applicability of Antitrust Laws to Debt Market Transactions

On October 19, 2012, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued an evenly divided 5-5 ruling en banc in a case involving the applicability of the antitrust laws to debt market transactions. This split decision has a...more

Cardoom International LLC v. Mark Scheinberg, et. al. (Ferguson, Chris)

NOTICE OF DEMURRER AND DEMURRER OF DEFENDANT CHRIS FERGUSON, TO PLAINTIFF’S FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT

Plaintiff’s lawsuit is nothing more than a base attempt to capitalize on an indictment and civil forfeiture action that is wholly unrelated to the claims alleged. Plaintiff, Cardroom International LLC (“Plaintiff”), claims...more

ATM Users Lack Standing to Challenge Bank ATM Fees

In In re: ATM Fee Antitrust Litigation, No. 10-17354 (9th Cir. July 12, 2012), the Ninth Circuit ruled that consumers (ATM cardholders) could not challenge ATM fees paid by ATM card issuing banks to the owner of the ATMs...more

D.C. Federal Court Holds FCRA Credit Report Notice Requirements Apply to Auto Dealers Engaging in Third Party Financing...

On May 22, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected the National Automobile Dealer’s Association’s (NADA) challenge to an FTC determination that an automobile dealer that executes a credit contract based...more

Criminal Antitrust Update - April 2012

In This Issue: - Industry Scorecard - Case Development – Supreme Court Declines to Hear Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act Appeal - The Impact of the AU Optronics Corp. Convictions Excerpt from Industry...more

FTC Files Case Against Tribe-Affiliated Payday Lenders

On April 2, the FTC announced that it filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada against a payday lending operation that allegedly charged undisclosed and inflated fees, and collected on...more

Federal Appeals Court Limits Review of FTC Interpretation of FCRA

Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that the FTC’s interpretation of a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) provision is not subject to direct review by the federal appeals court. Nat’l...more

New York Federal Court Holds That Meetings Related To Drafting Arbitration Clauses May Be Probative Of Antitrust Conspiracy...

In In re Currency Conversion Fee Antitrust Litig., 2012 WL 401113 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 8, 2012), Judge William H. Pauley III denied a motion for summary judgment by Defendants Discover and Citigroup after finding that a handful...more

Antitrust Claims That Credit Card Companies Conspired To Insert Arbitration Clauses in their Customer Agreements Survives Summary...

In re Currency Conversion Fee Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1409 (WHP) (S.D.N.Y. 2012), provides a good example on summary judgment of the intersection between arbitration clauses and the antitrust laws and illustrates...more

The lawyer's smoking gun: insolvency, fraud and privilege

Directors may rely on the company lawyer's confidential advice, only to find it released to prosecutors or regulators by a liquidator. Is that allowed? read on...more

Recent Second Circuit Opinion Invalidates Class Action Waiver Provision in a Commercial Contract

In an effort to avoid class action litigation, many businesses include a waiver of class action claims in their contracts, limiting dispute resolution to arbitration of claims on an individual rather than class action or...more

London Litigation Update

English Court Upholds Forum-Selection Clauses Even When Doing So Results in Proceedings in Multiple Forums: A recent appellate decision further clarifies the extent to which courts in England and Wales will adhere to the...more