Finance & Banking › Commercial Law & Contracts › Business Torts

District Court Denies Countrywide’s Motion to Dismiss AIG Suit

On May 6, Judge Mariana Pfaelzer of the United States District Court for the Central District of California allowed American International Group, Inc. (AIG) to proceed with several of its claims against Bank of America and...more

New York Appellate Court Reinstates Fraudulent Inducement Claim Against Goldman and M&T Bank

On May 7, New York’s First Department appellate court reinstated CIFG Assurance North America, Inc.’s fraud claim against Goldman Sachs & Co. and M&T Bank. Last May, a New York trial court dismissed CIFG’s claim for...more

MBIA and Bank of America Settle MBS Litigation for $1.7 Billion

On May 6, monoline insurer MBIA announced that it had reached a $1.7 billion settlement with Bank of America in connection with alleged fraud and breach of contract claims related to Countrywide-issued mortgage-backed...more

District Court Denies Banks’ Motions to Dismiss Litigation Concerning Role of MBS Trustees

On May 6, Judge Katherine Forrest of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York denied Bank of America and U.S. Bank’s motions to dismiss an action relating to their roles as trustees of Washington...more

SEC Settles Suit for Misleading Advisory Contract Approval Disclosure

Settlement with mutual fund directors and service providers serves as a reminder of responsibilities for disclosures relating to the approval of investment advisory contracts and provides insight into SEC enforcement...more

Capital Infusion - May 2013: Case Spotlight

Down-Round Equity Financings and Subsequent Exit Transactions - Best Practices for Preferred Investors and their Board Designees - Today’s middle market private equity landscape is as diverse and varied as it has ever...more

Court Issues Summary Judgment Ruling in MBIA’s RMBS Action Against Countrywide

On April 29, Justice Eileen Bransten of the New York State Supreme Court issued an opinion granting in part and denying in part competing motions for summary judgment filed by MBIA and Countrywide in connection with tort and...more

Court Upholds Validity of ERISA Fiduciary Indemnification

Ruling rejects DOL challenge of an agreement by a 100% ESOP-owned company to advance defense costs and indemnify a trustee....more

SEC Settles with Service Providers and Trustees of two Mutual Fund Trusts for Inaccurate Disclosures Regarding Section 15(c)...

On May 2, 2013, the SEC filed an order instituting settled administrative proceedings against the trustees (“Trustees”) and certain service providers of two “turnkey” open-end series investment companies, Northern Lights Fund...more

SEC Sanctions Fund Trustees for Inadequate Disclosures and Failure to Follow Compliance Policies

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the trustees of two “turnkey” mutual fund trusts with causing untrue or misleading disclosures about their review of the funds’ advisory contracts. The Commission also...more

CFTC Reiterates That “Wash Trades” Are “Grave Violations” In Penalizing Two Experienced Traders For Wash Trading

On Monday, April 29, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission reiterated that wash trades (transactions without intent to take genuine, bona fide positions in the market, such as simultaneous purchases and sales designed to...more

Bank of America Settles Class Action Brought By Mortgage Investors

Bank of America has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by investors who claimed they were misled by its Countrywide unit into buying risky mortgage securities. Bank of America acquired Countrywide Financial, a...more

TBTF Servicing: Another Issue for Originators to Consider

As widely reported recently, close to 1.2 million borrowers (about 30% of the more than 3.9 million households that faced foreclosure proceedings by the 11 leading financial institutions in 2009 and 2010), had to battle...more

Rogers Towers: Debts Non-Dischargeable When Use of Proceeds Intentionally Misrepresented

When an individual obtains a loan with no intention of repaying the lender, it is well established that such a debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy. If, however, a debtor does not misrepresent its intent to repay the...more

Federal Government Civil Fraud Suit Targets Mortgage Lender And Its President

On April 4, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and HUD officials announced a civil fraud suit alleging FCA and FIRREA claims against a mortgage lender and its president for falsely certifying loans and...more

De-Risking On Trial? U.S. Verizon Litigation Still Active

In our March 13 webinar on de-risking defined benefit pension plans, I stated that the U.S. litigation launched by a group of Verizon retirees challenging the annuitization of their pensions was not dead, even though a...more

How Graphics Helped a Trial Team Show Complex Data and Win

I love hearing the news that one of our clients had a great result using the work we did for them. The most recent big win I’m happy to report is Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, won a major lender liability/wrongful...more

Rogers Towers: Usury in Florida: Intent is Key

Usury under Florida law is largely a matter of intent. It is not fully determined by the fact that the lender actually received more than law permits but by the existence of a corrupt purpose in the lender’s mind to charge...more

Bank of America Reaches Pre-Litigation Settlement with NCUA for RMBS Losses

On April 2, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), an independent federal agency that supervises and charters federal credit unions, reached a $165 million settlement with Bank of America, stemming from BofA’s sale...more

Monoline Insurer Assured Sues RBS in Connection with $1.15 Billion RMBS Securitization

On March 26, Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. sued RBS Securities in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for fraud in connection with a financial guaranty insurance policy that Assured...more

California Bill Would Expand Liability For Securities Fraud, Impose New Fees, Expand Commissioner’s Powers

In late February, Senator Jerry Hill introduced a bill, SB 538, to substantially amend the Franchise Investment Law. A few days later, the bill was read for the first time and set for hearing by the Senate Banking and...more

New York Obtains Major Lender-Placed Insurance Settlement

On March 21, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) announced that it obtained a settlement from a major lender-placed insurer to resolve an investigation into the company’s practices. According to the DFS, the...more

Financial Regulators Compete, JPMorgan Loses

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC); the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC); the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); and the Office of the Comptroller of...more

Financial Services Quarterly Report - First Quarter 2013: Dealing With Investment Errors: A U.S. Perspective

No professional investment adviser would intentionally make a trade or investment error. However, such errors occur from time to time. Formulating an appropriate response to investment errors can be challenging for investment...more

Cleveland v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., 2013-Ohio-1035

Journal Entry and Opinion

Dismissal for failure to state a claim, Civ.R. 12 (B)(6), of Cleveland's action for public nuisance and Ohio RICO against financial institutions involved in the creation of mortgage-backed securities using subprime mortgages...more