Last month, New York’s intermediate appellate court reversed a grant of summary judgment in favor of plaintiff MBIA Ins. Corp.[1] MBIA, an insurer of RMBS trusts and a common plaintiff in this type of litigation, had sued Credit Suisse, the sponsor of the trusts.
The trial court had ruled as a matter of law that a “No Monetary Default” representation and warranty (R&W) encompassed borrower misrepresentation. The trial court also had ruled as a matter of law that the “Mortgage Loan Schedule” R&W guaranteed not just that the Mortgage Loan Schedule (MLS) had accurately transcribed information from the loan file, but also the underlying accuracy of the information in the MLS. Continue Reading
Last week, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (“LBHI”) filed two new motions in its ongoing Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court litigation against approximately 130 loan originators and brokers: (1) an Omnibus Motion for Leave to File Third Amended Complaints Pursuant to Rule 7015 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure (“Motion for Leave to Amend Complaint”); and (2) a Motion for Leave to Amend and Extend the Scope of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedures Orders for Indemnification Claims of the Debtors against Mortgage Loan Sellers (“ADR Motion”). This firm currently represents more than a dozen of the defendants. 
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. The latest case in point involves demand letters that JPMorgan Chase is sending out to lenders throughout the country. The letters pertain to loans sold by originators to EMC, Bear Stearns and Chase prior to 2008. Chase then pooled those loans with loans it originated on a retail basis, depositing the pools into residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) trusts. Institutional investors and monoline insurers subsequently sued Chase, alleging securities fraud and other causes of action.
Last week 
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 investors in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) created by Lehman Brothers Holdings prior to its bankruptcy in September 2008. The judge determined that the final settlement value of this particular set of claims was $2.38 billion – down from the $37 billion initially demanded, and the $11.4 billion sought by the plaintiffs in this claims estimation trial. A separate group of plaintiffs that had previously settled with Lehman Brothers Holdings had resolved their claims for approximately $2.4 billion.
Here is a situation that comes up quite a bit in the world of business contracts containing indemnification provisions, and in the insurance industry as well. First, a party (“Party A”) gets sued, or threatened with a suit, and settles the claims against it. Party A then seeks indemnification from another party (“Party B”) for all, or a portion of, the settlement payment that Party A made. Party B, in addition to challenging in other ways whether it owes Party A anything at all, believes it is able to show that some portion of the settlement payment relates to issues outside the scope of the indemnification provision, and/or that other parties are the ones truly responsible for some or all of whatever amount of indemnification Party A might be owed. This fairly common situation raises a host of complex issues, requiring analysis of all potentially applicable contracts, the specific claims that were asserted against Party A, the basis for its settlement, and other legal considerations like causation.
On November 1, President Trump formally did away with a 
Thousands of mortgage lenders across the country either recently received, or will soon be receiving, this document from 