On July 16, Judge Schofield in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed four out of five claims in a suit filed by Ambac Assurance Corp. (Ambac) against U.S. Bank National Association...more
Financial Industry Developments - Prohibition on Dealing or Investing in Industrial or Commercial Metals - On January 3, 2017, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the "OCC") finalized a rule that...more
Federal Rule 12(g)(2) generally prohibits a successive motion to dismiss based on grounds that were known at the time of the original motion. This rule was tested in VNB Realty, Inc. v. U.S. Bank Nat’l Assoc., No. 2:13-4743,...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Foreclosure/Constitutional Challenge: record title owner’s argument that Florida Statutes section 702.035, governing “Legal notice concerning foreclosure proceedings,” is an unconstitutional...more
The Florida Supreme Court today affirmed Bartram v. U.S. Bank National Association in a virtually unanimous decision. The decision resolves a long standing controversy regarding the effect (if any) of a prior unsuccessful...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Foreclosure/Standing: foreclosing bank did not establish standing where it failed to submit evidence it was in possession of original note with blank endorsement at time of filing of foreclosure...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Foreclosure/Leave to Amend: borrower should have been granted leave to amend to assert affirmative defenses pursuant to motion filed 13 days before trial because there was no prejudice, the...more
In a recent decision, the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota held that insurers could not use the so-called restitution/disgorgement defense to avoid covering amounts that their insured bank agreed to...more
Three class actions were filed against U.S. Bank in 2009 with identical allegations. The plaintiffs claimed that instead of applying transactions in chronological order, the bank posted transactions from the highest amount to...more
That was the holding of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in an opinion issued on Thursday in Dow Family, LLC v. PHH Mortgage Corporation, 2014 WI 56. The facts of the case are similar to thousands of foreclosure cases prosecuted...more
In a significant victory for California employers, the California Supreme Court threw out a $15 million judgment in favor of allegedly misclassified employees. In Duran v. U.S. Bank National Association, a putative class of...more
California Supreme Court Strikes Down $15 Million Employee Class Action Win and Orders Decertification in Duran V. U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n - Why it matters: On May 29, 2014, the California Supreme Court unanimously...more