Civil Remedies › Finance & Banking › Business Torts

California Federal District Court Reinstates Order In Overdraft Class Action

On May 14, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California reinstated a prior order enjoining a national bank from engaging in false or misleading representations relating to certain overdraft practices and...more

VERONICA GUTIERREZ, ERIN WALKER, and WILLIAM SMITH v WELLS FARGO BANK N.A.

CLASS ACTION FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AFTER BENCH TRIAL AWARDING $203 MILLION TO WELLS FARGO'S CALIFORNIA CUSTOMERS

CLASS ACTION FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AFTER BENCH TRIAL AWARDING $203 MILLION TO WELLS FARGO'S CALIFORNIA CUSTOMERS. A California judge ordered Wells Fargo to pay California customers $203 after finding that...more

Assured and UBS Agree to Settle RMBS Litigation for $358 Million

On May 6, monoline insurer Assured Guaranty Ltd. announced a $358 million settlement with UBS and its affiliates stemming from losses on residential mortgage-backed securities that were issued, sponsored or underwriten by...more

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA vs. JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.; CHASE BANK USA, N.A; CHASE BANKCARD SERVICES, INC.

Complaint for Fraudulent and Unlawful Debt-Collection Practices against tens of thousands of Californians.

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today filed an enforcement action against JPMorgan Chase & Co. (Chase) alleging that the bank engaged in fraudulent and unlawful debt-collection practices against tens of thousands of...more

Credit Crunch Digest -- April 2013

This issue of the Credit Crunch Digest focuses on the dismissal of antitrust claims against major banks in Libor-related litigation; settlement in the Merrill Lynch/Bank of America merger case; settlement in the SAC Capital...more

National Consumer Law Center Re: Restoring the Wisdom of the Common Law: Applying the Historical Rule Against Contractual Penalty...

NATIONAL CONSUMER LAW CENTER (NCLS) Banks Raking In Billions In Profits From Overdraft Fees The notion behind an overdraft fee — in which a bank customer is charged a penalty for overdrafting his account — is twofold:...more

No Happy Trails For Victorville Tax Increment Bond Financing

For more than thirty years, I’ve driven by, but never stopped at, the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum in Victorville, California. The museum eventually relocated to Missouri but reportedly did not survive for long. Despite...more

Don’t Lie About Assets Under Management

Umesh Tandon, president, chief compliance officer, and sole owner of Simran Capital Management, recently agreed to a settlement with the SEC relating to alleged violations of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the...more

Narrow Interpretation of "Customer" Under SIPA Is Affirmed by the Second Circuit

On February 22, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in In re Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC held that certain individuals who had invested indirectly in Bernard L. Madoff Investment...more

CFPB Annual Report 2013 re Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)

CFPB Annual Report 2013 re Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “the Bureau”) submits to Congress its second annual report summarizing its activities to administer the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA” or “the Act”), 15 U.S.C....more

Court Rewrites Plan to Increase Benefits

The Supreme Court’s 2011 CIGNA v. Amara decision suggested that an employer’s pension plan could be rewritten to remedy the employer’s failure to fulfill its disclosure obligations under the Employee Retirement Income...more

Freddie Mac Files Suit Over Losses Due To Alleged LIBOR Manipulation

On March 14, Freddie Mac sued 15 banks and the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), claiming that the institutions manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and caused substantial losses to Freddie Mac on...more

FTC Order Against Fraudulent Payment Processor Joins Growing List of Regulatory Actions Involving Third Party Service Providers

Following on the heels of significant regulatory actions by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Reserve, and the FDIC against regulated companies and their third-party service providers, the Federal Trade...more

California Federal Court First To Outline Factors Governing FIRREA Civil Penalty Awards

On March 6, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California identified for the first time factors for courts to consider when assessing a civil penalty under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and...more

CFTC Fines $3.5 Million In FX Fraud

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) obtained a federal court order for more than $3.5 million in restitution and civil monetary penalties against Nicholas Trimble and his two companies, Capstone FX...more

Investor Files Suit Against Nationstar Over Mortgage Auctions

On March 7, KIRP, LLC sued Texas-based mortgage servicer Nationstar Mortgage LLC in the Supreme Court of the State of New York in connection with Nationstar’s alleged improper conduct in servicing mortgage loans that are...more

Internal Investigation Fees Awarded To Goldman Sachs

On Monday, February 25, Goldman Sachs won its bid to force former director Rajat K. Gupta to pay legal fees it incurred while investigating Gupta’s insider trading activities. In October 2012, Gupta was sentenced to two years...more

Impac Settles RMBS Suit Brought by Citigroup for $3.1 Million

On January 24, Impac Funding Corp. settled a lawsuit brought by Citigroup Global Markets Inc. alleging violations of Sections 18 and 20 of the Securities Exchange Act and negligent misrepresentation based on alleged...more

Obligations To Pensioners In An Insolvency: Supreme Court Clarifies The Law

The Supreme Court of Canada overturned the Ontario Court of Appeal today in what is one of the most highly-anticipated cases for the pension and insolvency bars pending before the courts. In Indalex (Re) 2013 SCC 6, the court...more

Washington Mutual Settles RMBS Suit Brought by Union Central Life Insurance Co.

On December 17, 2012, two Washington Mutual affiliates settled a lawsuit brought against them by Union Central Life Insurance Co. concerning $4.3 million in Washington Mutual-sponsored RMBS purchased by Union Central....more

Mortgage Foreclosure Settlement

We have long been skeptical of most loan “repurchase” or “indemnification” demands made by big banks against the third-party originators (i.e., correspondent lenders) who sold those loans to the big banks many years ago....more

FDIC Obtains Jury Verdict And Settlement In Separate Actions In California District Court Against Former Bank Officers And...

On December 7, the FDIC, as receiver of a failed bank, obtained a jury verdict in its favor in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against a group of former bank officers. FDIC v. Van Dellen, No....more

Baker & McKenzie: Bathurst Regional Council v. Local Government Financial Services [2012] FCA 1200

Summary - The Federal Court handed down its judgement in the case of Bathurst Regional Council v. Local Government Financial Services Pty Ltd (No.5) [2012] 1200. The case was a class action brought by 13 councils...more

Former Hedge Fund Founder Ordered to Pay $5 Million for Securities Law Violations

The US District Court for the Southern District of New York recently ordered the investment adviser to two hedge funds, and its managing director, to pay nearly $5 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil...more

CFTC Cracks Down On Commodity Pool Ponzi Schemes

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a statement yesterday announcing that Judge Edward J. Lodge of the U.S. District Court of Idaho entered a permanent injunction requiring Trigon Group, Inc, to return...more