In the latest of the subprime and credit crisis cases to be dismissed, on September 30, 2009, District of Massachusetts Judge Richard G. Stearns dismissed the securities class action lawsuit that had been filed by purchasers of mortgage pass-through certificates against Nomura Asset Acceptance Corporation, certain of its directors and officers, the eight mortgage trusts
Plaintiffs’ Extract Some Subprime Lawsuit Dismissal Motion Success
In several prior posts (most recently here), I have noted that defendants seem to be faring particularly well at the dismissal motion stage in the subprime and credit crisis-related lawsuits. However, in recent dismissal motion rulings in two subprime-related cases, one in a securities class action lawsuit and one in an ERISA class action
More Subprime Lawsuit Dismissals
In my recent subprime and credit crisis lawsuit status update (here), I commented that the defendants seemed to be getting the upper hand at the dismissal stage in many of these cases. Two recent dismissal motion rulings tend to corroborate this view. In addition, the defendants in the auction rate securities cases continue
An Interesting Auction Rate Securities Suit Dismissal
In a ruling with potential significance for the other remaining auction rate securities lawsuits, on September 17, 2009, Southern District of New York Judge Lewis A. Kaplan granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss, with leave to amend, in the auction rate securities lawsuit pending against Raymond James Financial and certain of its subsidiaries. A copy
Subprime-Related Securities Litigation: An Interim Update
It is now over two and a half years since the first subprime-related securities class action lawsuit was filed in February 2007, yet many of the cases filed as part of the ensuing litigation wave are still only in their earliest stages. But there have been some important developments recently – for example, the Eighth Circuit’s
Rating Agencies’ First Amendment Defense Rejected in Subprime Suit
Among the causes many cite for the subprime meltdown is the willingness of the rating agencies to assign investment grade rating to securities backed by subprime mortgages. For that reason, in many of the lawsuits filed as part of the subprime litigation wave, plaintiffs have named rating agencies as defendants, seeking to hold them
Eighth Circuit Affirms NovaStar Financial Subprime Securities Suit Dismissal
In the first appellate court decision related to the subprime and credit crisis litigation wave, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on September 1, 2009 affirmed the dismissal of the NovaStar Financial subprime related securities class action lawsuit. A copy of the Eighth Circuit’s opinion can be found here. The
More Subprime Lawsuit Dismissals and Other Web Notes
Finacial Downturn, Not Fraud, Caused Plaintiffs’ Losses: In a ruling that is interesting for what it says about the relevance of the overall economic downturn to the wave of subprime lawsuits, on August 20, 2009, Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge R. Barclay Surrick, Jr. granted the motion to dismiss the securities fraud lawsuit that Luminent
Court Preliminarily Approves $150 Million Subprime-Related Merrill Lynch Bond Action Settlement
It seems that Southern District of New York Judge Jed Rakoff has been busy lately reviewing proposed settlements related to Merrill Lynch. But unlike his recent well-publicized refusal to accept the SEC’s proposed settlement of its enforcement action regarding the Merrill Lynch bonus disclosures, he did agree on August 21, 2009 to preliminarily approve the
More Subprime-Related Dismissal Motion Rulings
Two recent dismissal motion rulings in cases arising out of the subprime and credit crisis litigation wave involve two companies from outside the original core of the subprime lending sector – student lender First Marblehead and residential home builder Levitt Corporation. When these cases were filed early in 2008, I cited each of them as