On September 30, Judge Paul Oetken of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York partially certified a class of MBS investors under Rule 23(b) in Fort Worth Employees’ Retirement Fund v. J.P. Morgan Chase & Company. The plaintiffs allege that J.P. Morgan made misleading statements in the offering documents underlying approximately $10 billion worth of MBS certificates. Judge Oetken certified the class for liability purposes only, but not damages. Judge Oetken held that while plaintiffs had met the necessary elements for liability purposes, they had not come forth with a damages model that was precise enough to permit the court to permit the calculation of damages on a class wide basis. The court’s order did not preclude certification of the class for damages purposes in the future, if plaintiffs develop a model sufficient to demonstrate damages across the class. Order.
