Jennifer C. Lee

Partner

San Francisco

jclee@orrick.com

Read full biography at www.orrick.com
Jennifer Lee is a Partner in Orrick’s San Francisco office who focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation in the financial services industry. She defends investment banks, corporations and financial services companies and has deep knowledge of the structured finance and mortgage servicing industries, having spent nearly a decade representing financial institutions in million and billion-dollar cases arising from the fallout of the 2009 financial crisis. 
Jennifer defends her clients in federal and state litigation across the country that allege fraud, breach of contract, or securities law violations.  She is a key member of an Orrick trial team that has shaped the legal landscape of RMBS litigation after the 2009 financial crisis, delivering out-of-the box arguments and innovative solutions for her clients, from initial receipt of pre-litigation demands through expert work, summary judgment and trial.  

Jennifer's mortgage-backed securities litigation experience, which spans the last decade, includes:

  • Representing Credit Suisse Securities in multiple million and billion-dollar actions across the country brought by monoline insurers, trustees, and regulators alleging breaches of representations and warranties, fraud, and securities violations.  Recent highlights include conducting direct examination of an expert witness in a trial in February 2023, and securing partial dismissal of claims in December 2023 after arguing a motion to dismiss. 
  • Representing Goldman Sachs in two RMBS putback actions pending in the Southern District of New York alleging that Goldman breached representations and warranties regarding the characteristics of the deal loans.
Jennifer also has significant mortgage servicing expertise, including the following matters:

  • Representing Nationstar in a breach of contract dispute alleging that Nationstar failed to properly service and made misrepresentations regarding thousands of early buy-out loans.
  • Representing Ocwen Mortgage Servicing in a consumer class action in the Eastern District of California alleging numerous claims including RICO, California consumer protection statutes and fraud.  
Jennifer also represents financial services companies related to commercial disputes, including:

  • Representing Pipe Technologies, Inc. in multiple commercial disputes regarding payment of services.
  • Representing a large financial services platform in multiple subpoenas issued for production of documents.

Jennifer is dedicated to pro bono work, including asylum claims, a cause close to her heart as a child of immigrants. Prior to joining Orrick, she held a fellowship position in the Law Reform Unit at the Legal Aid Society of New York, litigating both individual cases as well as class actions.

Jennifer is a leader and advocate for diversity and inclusion initiatives in the legal profession. She leads Orrick's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee in San Francisco. She has served as a fellow for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, and is active in the California Minority Counsel Program.  

Posts by: Jennifer Lee

Texas District Court Rules on Damages Calculations in FDIC’s RMBS Suit Against Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank

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On September 14, 2017, Judge Sam Sparks of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas granted summary judgment in favor of defendants Goldman Sachs & Co. and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. on certain aspects of the method and rate that will be used to calculate damages in an RMBS suit brought by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The FDIC alleges that the Defendants violated the Securities Act of 1933 and the Texas Securities Act (“TSA”) by making material misstatements and omissions concerning the mortgages underlying $2.1 billion worth of residential mortgage-back securities.

The Defendants had moved for summary judgment on the method and rate for calculating damages under the TSA’s Article 581-33(D)(3). First, they argued that damages should be calculated using the “declining principal balance method” to account for payments made on the outstanding balance in the interest calculation. The Court agreed, comparing the language of the TSA with that of the Securities Act of 1933, and holding that this method appropriately “compensate[s] a defrauded buyer based on out-of-pocket consideration at any given time,” which aligns with the TSA’s purpose to “return defrauded buyers to the status quo.”

Defendants also requested that the damages interest rate, which was described as the “legal rate” in the contractual provision, should be the “Coupon Rate” specified in the underlying security certificates. Judge Sparks rejected this argument because “legal rate” was not defined in the contract, and held instead that the interest rate should be six percent per year under general provisions of interest in Chapter 302 of the Texas Finance Code, based on how Texas statues and courts had interpreted “legal rate” in other contexts. Summary Judgment Order

New York Court Dismisses Royal Park’s RMBS Cases for Lack of Standing

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On April 12, 2017, Judge Charles E. Ramos of the New York State Supreme Court for New York County dismissed Royal Park’s RMBS lawsuits alleging fraud and other tort causes of action against Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and UBS due to lack of standing. Royal Park had acquired the RMBS certificates from another entity via a portfolio transfer agreement (“PTA“), which transferred the “right, title and interest in and to” the certificates. The defendants argued that New York procedural law governed the issue of standing and that under New York law, the right to bring tort claims would not automatically transfer with the certificates absent an outward expression of an intent to do so. Royal Park argued that the court should apply Belgium procedural law to the standing issue because Belgium law governed the PTA. The court held that New York law governed the issue of standing and that since the PTA unambiguously only transferred the “right, title and interest in and to” the certificates, it did not expressly assign the right to bring tort claims, and Royal Park thus lacked standing to bring its claims. Order.

Summary Judgment Denied in Monoline Insurer Lawsuit Against J.P. Morgan

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On June 6, 2016, Justice Alan D. Scheinkman of the New York Supreme Court for Westchester County denied J.P. Morgan’s motion for summary judgment on MBIA’s fraudulent concealment claim. The court had previously granted summary judgment in favor of J.P. Morgan on MBIA’s fraud claim, but permitted MBIA to amend its complaint to add a fraudulent concealment claim that J.P. Morgan failed to disclose complete and accurate third-party due diligence results regarding the collateral underlying the securitization. First, Scheinkman rejected J.P. Morgan’s argument that it did not owe MBIA an affirmative duty to disclose the results of the due diligence review. The Court held that the bid letter between J.P. Morgan and MBIA evinced a contractual relationship between the parties, and that even in the absence of such a relationship, J.P. Morgan was acting as an agent for the deal’s sponsor, who was obligated to share the due diligence results with MBIA.  Second, Scheinkman held that issues of fact precluded summary judgment on actual reliance, because withholding, disguising the significance, and delivering an altered version of due diligence results may have thwarted MBIA’s ability to protect itself.  Last, the Court held that whether MBIA justifiably relied on J.P. Morgan’s failure to disclose the due diligence results is a question for the jury.  Decision & Order.

New York Court Orders BlackRock to Seek Discovery from Former Certificateholders and Produce That Information in Suit Against RMBS Trustee

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On June 3, 2016, Judge Sarah Netburn of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered BlackRock, an RMBS certificateholder that has sued the RMBS trustee, HSBC, to identify and serve document subpoenas on the former owners of BlackRock’s RMBS certificates. BlackRock’s lawsuit against HSBC (which we previously discussed here) asserts several causes of action arising out of HSBC’s alleged failure to fulfill its contractual, statutory, and fiduciary obligations as Trustee. HSBC argued in its motion to compel production that the requested documents from the former owners are directly relevant to proving HSBC’s affirmative defenses and showing that BlackRock lacks standing to assert the litigation rights of the prior certificateholders.  The Court agreed, holding that BlackRock cannot assert the litigation rights of the prior certificateholders without assuming the corresponding discovery obligation.  Order.

Second Circuit Reverses and Remands Trial Court’s Summary Judgment Order in Favor of Morgan Stanley in a CMBS Case

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On April 27, 2016, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals vacated and remanded the district court’s summary judgment order entered in favor of defendant Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital, Inc. in the Southern District of New York.  Plaintiff Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A., as trustee of a CMBS deal, alleged that Morgan Stanley breached an environmental conditions contract representation, requiring Morgan Stanley to repurchase an $81 million mortgage loan.  The Second Circuit reversed the trial court’s conclusion that Morgan Stanley was not contractually obligated to repurchase the mortgage loan because the Trustee’s duty to give “notice of cure” within three business days of becoming aware of a material breach was a condition precedent to Morgan Stanley’s repurchase obligation.  The Second held that a request to cure a material breach was not a condition precedent under the contract.  In so holding, the Second Circuit distinguished between the Mortgage Loan Purchase Agreement’s separate obligations of “notice of breach” and “request to cure.”  As to the “request to cure” obligation, the Court found nothing that made it clear that Morgan Stanley’s remedy obligation does not arise until a request for cure is made.  The Court remanded the case to the trial court to reassess the timeliness of the Trustee’s notice for cure, which was a fact issue that must be presented to the factfinder at trial to determine when the Special Servicer concluded its investigation.  In addition, because request for cure is not a condition precedent, the jury would have to decide the question of substantial performance.  The Court held that a reasonable jury could find that, even if there was some delay in requesting cure, it could determine that substantial performance occurred. Decision.

Justice Friedman of the New York Supreme Court Dismisses Two FHFA Repurchase Actions

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On April 12, 2016, Justice Marcy Friedman of the New York Supreme Court granted motions to dismiss in two RMBS breach of contract actions filed by FHFA against Morgan Stanley ABS Capital I Inc. (“MSAC”) and Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital Holdings LLC (“Morgan Stanley”).  In the decisions, he Court dismissed the actions on similar grounds and granted the parties the opportunity to brief claims for failure to notify, in light of the October 13, 2015 First Department’s decision in Nomura Home Equity Loan Inc. Series 2006-FM2 et al. v. Nomura Credit & Capital Inc.

Like Justice Friedman’s ruling last month in ACE Securities v. DB Structured Products, Inc., which we previously covered, the Court held that both actions were not rendered untimely by the Plaintiff’s failure to file repurchase demand condition precedent prior to the filing of the summons with notice.  However, the FHFA, as certificate holder, lacked standing to commence the action and thus the Trustee’s cause of action was untimely because it did not relate back to the FHFA’s summons with notice.  In so holding, the Court rejected the Trustee’s arguments in both cases that the action was timely commenced, and also that the accrual clause in the RMBS extended the statute of limitations, and that the federal Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, applicable to certain actions brought by FHFA, extended the limitations period.  Finally, the Court also held that no tolling agreements saved Trustee’s claims, and also dismissed the causes of action for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, breach of repurchase obligations, and anticipatory breach. Decision 116. Decision 134.

New York Supreme Court Dismisses ACE Action Re-Asserting Repurchase Claims against DB Structured Products

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On March 29, 2016, Justice Marcy Friedman of the New York Supreme Court rejected the trustee’s attempt to renew previously dismissed claims in ACE Securities v. DB Structured Products, Inc.  As we previously reported, the trustee re-filed this action after the First Department dismissed the prior lawsuit related to the same trust, a dismissal that the Court of Appeals later affirmed.

In granting the motion to dismiss, the court rejected the trustee’s reliance on CPLR 205(a) as grounds for reviving the previously dismissed lawsuit.  The Court held that CPLR 205(a) allows only the same plaintiff that commenced the prior action to re-commence a second action under the terms of that rule.  Because the prior action had been commenced by the certificateholders, not the trustee, the trustee was not the same plaintiff and could not take advantage of CPLR 205(a).  The Court rejected the trustee’s argument that it and the certificateholders were attempting to litigate identical interests, holding that the certificateholders in the prior action did not possess a cause of action to which the trustee succeeded.  The court also considered the defendant’s alternative argument that CPLR 205(a) was not available because the prior lawsuit was untimely.  The prior lawsuit was filed on the six-year anniversary of the allegedly breached representations and warranties, but neither the trustee nor the certificateholders had complied with the contract’s notice and cure “repurchase protocol” at the time of filing, a failing that both the First Department and Court of Appeals relied upon in dismissing the prior case.  The Court held that to the extent the dismissal was based on the non-compliance with the repurchase protocol, it should properly be characterized as a dismissal for failure to comply with a condition precedent, not a dismissal on timeliness grounds.  However, the First Department also held that the trustee’s complaint in the prior lawsuit had been untimely because it did not relate back to the certificateholders’ summons with notice.  Therefore, the trustee’s failure to file a timely complaint in the first lawsuit provided a second basis for why the trustee could not rely on CPLR 205(a) to re-file the previously dismissed lawsuit. Order.

National Credit Union Administration Board Accepts UBS Securities LLC Offer of Judgment

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On February 25, the National Credit Union Administration Board (“NCUA”) accepted an offer of judgment tendered by UBS Securities LLC (“UBS”) in the amount of $33,014,285 plus prejudgment interest, which will be calculated by the court. NCUA and UBS will attempt to agree on costs and fees also to be paid by UBS.  Acting as the liquidating agent for Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union and Members United Corporate Federal Credit Union, NCUA’s complaint alleged that UBS made material misstatements in connection with the sale of 20 RMBS certificates, alleging more than $918 million in actual gross losses.  UBS specified in the offer of judgment that its offer should not be construed as an admission of liability. Offer of Judgment. Complaint.

Judge Mostly Denies Deutsche Bank National Trust Co.’s Motion to Dismiss in RMBS Class Action

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On February 3, Judge Alison Nathan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York largely denied Deutsche Bank National Trust Co.’s (the “Trustee’s”) motion to dismiss in a proposed class action brought by Royal Park Investments SA/NV over $3.1 billion in losses in residential mortgage-backed securities.  Royal Park alleged that the Trustee failed to require the loan sellers to repurchase or substitute loans when it became aware that the underlying mortgages were defaulting.  Judge Nathan rejected the Trustee’s argument that Royal Park failed to make a written demand to initiate a repurchase action as required in the trusts’ pooling and service agreements, holding that the Trustee had an obligation to provide notice to the other parties when it independently discovered breaches of representations and warranties.  Judge Nathan did, however, dismiss Royal Park’s derivative claims on behalf of 10 trusts that held the loans because the suit was direct rather than derivative in nature.  Order.

Morgan Stanley Settles RMBS Litigation with FDIC for $63M

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On January 29, Morgan Stanley and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation agreed to settle five suits encompassing state and federal claims alleging that Morgan Stanley made misrepresentations in offering residential mortgage-backed securities to three now-defunct banks.  Morgan Stanley will pay $63 million to the FDIC, as receiver for Colonial Bank of Montgomery, Alabama, Security Savings Bank of Henderson, New York, and United Western Bank of Denver, Colorado.  Morgan Stanley denied all liability regarding the claims, and the settlement agreement specified that the parties settled in order to avoid further litigation.  The settlement was reached in coordination with the Department of Justice.  Settlement and Release Agreement.