Bank of NewYork Mellon

Court Denies Motion for Partial Summary Judgment in RMBS Repurchase Litigation

On May 22, 2015, Judge Denise Cote of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York denied defendants WMC Mortgage, LLC and GE Mortgage Holding, L.L.C.’s motion for partial summary judgment to dismiss certain loan repurchase claims asserted by Bank of NewYork Mellon in its capacity as RMBS Trustee for GE-WMC Mortgage Securities Trust 2006-I.  Defendants argued that because certain loans in the trust had been foreclosed-upon and liquidated, the terms of the operative Pooling and Service Agreement barred recovery.  Judge Cote rejected this argument.  Following New York State courts construing prevailing New York law, Judge Cote held that money damages could be awarded in lieu of the PSA’s “sole remedy” of loan repurchase for a breaching loan where the granting of equitable relief appears to be impossible or impracticable.  The court held that the liquidation of a breaching loan presents such a circumstance, and permitted Bank of New York Mellon’s claims as to foreclosed-upon loans to go forward.  Order.