The U.S. commercial real estate market, valued at $20 trillion in 2021 by some estimates, touches nearly every facet of urban and suburban dwellers’ lives – from where they live (multi-family housing or apartment buildings)...more
On April 26, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of three residential mortgage-backed securities lawsuits tied to losses incurred during the 2008 financial crisis. The plaintiffs, issuers of...more
On February 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a district court order requiring a mortgage lender to pay $5.4 million in damages and $14 million in attorney’s fees for selling mortgages that did not...more
The recent surge in residential mortgage buyback demands by Freddie Mac, among others, has a number of industry analysts bracing for a new wave of indemnification claims and put-back attempts against correspondent lenders and...more
On March 17, 2022, the New York State Court of Appeals issued a significant decision affecting RMBS putback litigation governed by New York law. The decision, U.S. Bank National Association v. DLJ Mortgage Capital, 2022 WL...more
Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dealt a major blow to mortgage investors in two parallel actions pending for the past few years. The impact proved to be fatal to one of the actions,...more
The Commercial Mortgage Market Since the Covid-19 Pandemic - The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to many facets of what was once everyday life. As Americans sheltered in place, brick-and-mortar retail shopping and...more
One would think that, as we approach 2021, litigation related to residential mortgage loans originated and sold well over a decade ago would be ancient history. Nevertheless, some suits filed years ago remain active, and,...more
Residential mortgage-backed securities offerings prior to 2008 gave rise to an abundance of litigation, some of which continues to this day. There may be reason to anticipate an increase in commercial mortgage-backed...more
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Statutory Accounting Principles Working Group (SAPWG) met remotely on July 30, as part of the NAIC’s all-virtual 2020 Summer National Meeting....more
A surge in repurchase claims against mortgage originators may be imminent as aggregators and servicers face nonpayment of debt obligations and liquidity shortfalls resulting from an increase in residential mortgage loans put...more
The years since the 2007–2008 financial crisis have been marked with milestone settlements of claims against the major mortgage “aggregators” (sometimes also known as “investors” in the mortgage purchasing context), who then...more
The United States and Mexico appear poised to move past a last-minute snag over new language on Labor Department attaches to posts in Mexico. Mexico feared that the diplomats would “act as labor inspectors,” and for a day or...more
PG&E’s woes continue. Not only is the company still in the midst of a dangerous fire season, but it’s struggling to find a path out of bankruptcy while fending off a growing chorus of cities and state officials “threatening...more
Facebook revealed yesterday that “millions of user account passwords had been stored insecurely, potentially allowing employees to gain access to people’s accounts without their knowledge.” The company said it “had found no...more
British lawmakers are voting today on Theresa May’s updated Brexit plan, and by all accounts, it’s been a mad dash for the Prime Minister in recent weeks to shore up support for a plan “that could go down to a humiliating...more
Over the last several years, we have posted several times about whether the statute of limitations bars remedies against lenders (and sometimes sponsors and trustees) of residential mortgages. ...more
Last month, New York’s intermediate appellate court reversed a grant of summary judgment in favor of plaintiff MBIA Ins. Corp. MBIA, an insurer of RMBS trusts and a common plaintiff in this type of litigation, had sued Credit...more
On October 16, 2018, the New York State Court of Appeals held that contractual attempts to extend the statute of limitations for causes of action involving breaches of contract are unenforceable because they violate New York...more
EDITOR’S NOTE - So much for the lazy days of summer. It’s been a busy couple of months on both coasts. In a case of déjà vu all over again, a New York federal court found that the CFPB structure is unconstitutional and that...more
On May 16, 2018, Justice Shirley W. Kornreich of the New York Supreme Court granted in part and denied in part the parties’ summary judgment motions in Merrill Lynch Mortgage Investors Trust Series 2006-RM4 v. Merrill Lynch...more
CFTC Staff Issues Interpretive Guidance Regarding Exemption from Aggregation - On May 2, 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's ("CFTC") Division of Market Oversight issued a CFTC staff letter with interpretive...more
Ten years after the financial crisis, mortgage companies and regional/local banks are still getting hit with new breach of contract and indemnification claims related to loans sold before the crisis....more
On March 20, 2018, UBS entered into a $230 million settlement with the New York Attorney General to resolve allegations against UBS under New York’s Martin Act and Executive Law arising from the creation, packaging,...more
On March 8, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York concluded a lengthy “claims estimation” trial to determine the appropriate final settlement price for a resolution of lawsuits filed on behalf of...more