Contact:
Mark P. Ladner or
Michael J. Agoglia
Morrison & Foerster has unmatched depth and expertise in the field of financial services litigation. The firm has represented
banks and other financial services companies for more than a century, providing experienced and creative litigation and dispute
resolution services. The firm represents financial services clients throughout the United States in both federal and state
court matters, and has experienced financial services litigators resident throughout the country and in several of its international
offices as well. Morrison & Foerster’s financial services clients include national banks, federal and state savings associations,
commercial banks, independent and industrially-owned finance companies and limited purpose banks, mortgage bankers and brokers,
insurance companies, and securities firms.
Morrison & Foerster has been at the forefront of consumer class action litigation in the financial services industry, successfully
representing banks and other financial services companies in numerous suits involving deposit and checking accounts, credit
cards, real estate, mortgage transactions, consumer loans, loan-related fees, mortgage insurance, auto loans, ADR clauses,
and other consumer relationships. The firm has extensive experience in all aspects of financial services class action litigation,
including vigorous and leading-edge opposition to class certification, early resolution through motions to dismiss or for
summary judgment based on preemption, exportation, or substantive grounds, constitutional and other challenges to class actions
in bankruptcy courts, and, where necessary, the organization and retrieval of extensive documents, mediation, settlement administration,
and fairness hearings, as well as trials and appeals.
Morrison & Foerster has acted as national coordinating counsel on many matters, coordinating litigation strategy within companies
and across industries. The firm has frequently been called upon by major trade organizations, such as the American Bankers
Association, the Mortgage Bankers Association, the Consumer Bankers Association, and the California Bankers Association, to
present industry positions in amicus curiae briefs filed in federal and state appellate courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States.
Morrison & Foerster’s litigators have also successfully defended financial services firms in a wide array of criminal and
civil investigations involving SEC enforcement actions, FTC investigations, alleged embezzlement, alleged violations of the
Bank Secrecy Act, investment management firm practices, and whistle-blower allegations
Representative Matters
- Defending Bank of America in the largest financial services, antitrust class action in the country: the Interchange case -- a series of class and individual actions filed by U.S. merchants alleging that Visa, MasterCard, and their member
banks conspired to: (i) fix interchange rates in the markets for credit, charge, and off-line debit cards; (ii) adopt and
enforce rules to preclude merchants from directing consumers to less expensive payment forms; and (iii) “tie” and “bundle”
network-processing and payment-guarantee services to payment card system services.
- Defending JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank One Corporation, and Bank One, N.A. in antitrust actions challenging the setting of ATM
interchange fees in the Star Network against claims that setting these fees on a network-wide basis has the effect of artificially
inflating the fees for withdrawals at ATMs not owned by the issuing bank.
- Defending Bank of America in a class action challenge on behalf of holders of Visa and MasterCard credit cards to foreign
currency conversion practices of the associations and the major card-issuing banks. Plaintiffs allege that defendants’ practices
violate the Sherman Act and TILA.
- Defending numerous mortgage lending and insurance companies in putative class actions filed around the country challenging
mortgage solicitation and pricing practices under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
- Defending a number of financial institutions, including Bank of America and Capital One Bank, and has previously defended
others, including Bank One, N.A., in litigation asserting that the transmission of certain information to third-party marketers
violates rights of privacy and other provisions of California law. Morrison & Foerster is also advising a number of institutions
in a variety of industries on data security breach issues.
- Early Preemption Victories: On March 2, 2005, state court dismissed without leave to amend challenges to CitiMortgage’s prepayment
penalty practices under California Business & Professions Code section 17200 and breach of contract theories, finding such
claims preempted by HOLA and OTS regulations. Similarly, in separate cases against U.S. Bank, both state and federal courts
dismissed claims that it was obligated to comply with state laws imposing ATM disclosure requirements, as preempted under
the National Bank Act.
- Defending Bank of America in antitrust action brought by American Express alleging that Visa, MasterCard, and the major banks
violated the Sherman Act by conspiring to exclude American Express from the card-issuing and network services market.
- In Cline v. First Nationwide Mortgage Corp. (In re Cline), 282 B.R. 686 (W.D. Wa. 2002), debtor-plaintiffs brought a putative class action alleging that certain collection practices
violated stays of bankruptcy. First Nationwide raised constitutional and other challenges to the bankruptcy court’s jurisdiction
to entertain a nationwide class, with which the District Court agreed
- In Beneficial National Bank v. Anderson, 539 U.S. 1 (2003), a case involving complete preemption of state usury claims by the National Bank Act, Morrison & Foerster
filed an amicus brief for the American Bankers Association, America’s Community Bankers, Consumer Bankers Association, and
Financial Services Roundtable. The Supreme Court held that sections 85 and 86 of the National Bank Act completely preempted
the state-law usury claims and provided the exclusive cause of action for usury claims against national banks.
- Morrison & Foerster was chosen, after a nationwide search, to serve as national coordinating counsel for the Mortgage Bankers
Association with respect to over 250 class actions challenging lender-paid compensation to mortgage brokers. These class actions
were filed across the nation, and sought billions of dollars in damages. With Morrison & Foerster’s assistance, including
spearheading appellate litigation and the efforts that prompted HUD to issue clarifying Policy Statements, defendants uniformly
defeated class certification and the threat of catastrophic liability to the mortgage lending industry.
