Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of $56M MBS Suit against Bank of America

On November 25, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG’s suit against Bank of America. IKB alleged that BofA fraudulently misrepresented the quality of loans underlying mortgage backed securities sold in 2005 and 2006. The court held that the complaint’s generalized allegations that BofA knew of claimed mortgage defects by virtue of access to due diligence reports prepared by Clayton and BofA’s own due diligence procedures were not sufficient to plead fraudulent intent. The court also affirmed dismissal of IKB’s claim for fraud relating to representations about the transfer of mortgages to the issuing trust, holding that these representations constituted promises to perform in the future and thus were not the proper subject of a fraud claim absent allegations that there was an intent not to perform at the time the promises were made.  Summary Order.