AIG RMBS Dispute Against Bank of America Stays in Federal Court Under the Edge Act

On October 20, 2011, Judge Jones of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found that the Edge Act conferred federal jurisdiction over a lawsuit brought by AIG against Bank of America and related entities arising out of certain AIG RMBS investments. The Edge Act confers federal jurisdiction over, among other things, any case in which a national bank is a party arising out of transactions involving banking in a U.S. dependency or insular possession. Defendants relied on the presence in certain RMBS collateral pools of mortgage loans that were secured by properties located in overseas locations, such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Noting that 4 of the 349 RMBS at issue were backed by mortgages in U.S. territories, Judge Jones found that jurisdiction was proper even if the territorial transactions involve only a small portion of the total transactions at issue. Decision.