On November 21, Judge Mariana Pfaelzer of the United States District Court for the Central District of California dismissed as time-barred an RMBS action brought against Countrywide by the FDIC as receiver for Strategic Capital Bank (SCB). The court held that SCB was on notice of Countrywide’s alleged misrepresentations over a year before the FDIC became its receiver, thus barring the claims under the applicable one year statute of limitations. Judge Pfaelzer further held that the November 2007 filing of a state court investor class action concerning Countrywide RMBS did not toll the statute of limitations because the plaintiff in that case did not have standing to sue on the tranches SCB allegedly purchased, and because a state court class action does not toll the statute of limitations for claims brought later in federal court. Decision.
