US District Court for the Southern District of New York

RMBS Claims Against Bank of New York Mellon Remain in Federal Court

On December 18, Judge William Pauley III of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied Bank of New York Mellon’s motion to dismiss RMBS claims regarding fourteen trusts and one indenture trust for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.  With respect to the indenture trust, the Court held that it did have original jurisdiction over that claim because the federal Trust Indenture Act (“TIA”) implicitly creates a private right of action.  Judge Pauley exercised supplemental jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ Pooling and Servicing Agreement (“PSA”) claims for the remaining fourteen trusts.  Citing Judge Shira Scheindlin’s March 31, 2015 decision in BlackRock v. HSBC, Judge Pauley held that both the TIA and PSA claims share a common nucleus of operative fact because all of the trusts at issue in the case were sponsored by Countrywide affiliates and serviced by Countrywide Home Loan Servicing.  Judge Pauley dismissed any concern that allowing a single TIA claim to create jurisdiction over fourteen state law claims would “allow a federal tail to wag a state dog,” noting Countrywide’s imprint on every transaction as sponsor and servicer.  Judge Pauley also highlighted that the case has been pending in the S.D.N.Y. for over four years and to create parallel proceedings would be both inconvenient and against the interests of judicial economy. Decision.

Plaintiffs Seeks Approval of $70 Million Settlement in Investor Class Action Against Credit Suisse

On March 10, 2011, lead plaintiffs in an investor class action against Credit Suisse Group AG and related individual defendants filed an unopposed motion in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York asking Judge Marrero to preliminarily approve a $70 million settlement in that action on behalf of all defendants. The investors had sued Credit Suisse for claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act, alleging that Credit Suisse had inflated its stock price by falsely representing to investors that the firm was successful in limiting the risk and losses of its RMBS and CDOs from the subprime and credit crises because it had exceptional risk management practices and internal controls. The proposed settlement class includes all purchasers of Credit Suisse American Depository Shares on the NYSE and all US residents who purchased Credit Suisse common stock on the Swiss Stock Exchange from February 15, 2007 through April 14, 2008 who have not otherwise timely opted out of the class. Notice. Settlement Agreement. Second Amended Class Complaint.