Karr Tuttle Campbell lawyers have handled numerous claims involving banks raising various tort and contract theories of liability, as well as securities and other statutory claims. As a consequence of our level of experience, our lawyers have presented several seminars on lender’s liability.
FDIC vs. WaMu. Karr Tuttle Campbell represents the FDIC in its pursuit of claims against certain officers and directors of WaMu, which arise out of the biggest bank failure in the history of the country.
FDIC/ WaMu Class Actions. In these matters, Karr Tuttle Campbell represented the FDIC in its role of receiver for Washington Mutual Bank regarding putative class actions, filed in both state and federal court in Washington, which arose out of billions of dollars of mortgage securitizations.
In re: Capistrano Developments, Inc. In this case, the firm successfully defended a bank and a bank officer against claims of breach of a real estate purchase-and-sale agreement, fraud, and consumer-protection violations. We obtained a summary judgment, dismissing the plaintiff’s claims on every issue, and sustained the dismissal on appeal. We also obtained a judgment against the plaintiff, awarding 100% of the bank’s attorney fees.
In re: Kelley. We represented the defendant bank in a class action lawsuit by members of a bankrupt camping club whose membership contracts had been assigned to the bank. We were successful in having the case dismissed on summary judgment, and in the process, obtained an award for our clients of 100% of its attorney fees.
In re: Bender. This case was a federal court ERISA action in which a borrower sought to recover substantial tax losses incurred as a consequence of the bank’s knowing acceptance of a qualified pension plan’s assets as collateral for a loan. We succeeded in negotiating a settlement prior to trial, under which the loan was restructured with a higher interest rate and substitute collateral, but without any diminution in the principal debt. Most of the bank’s attorney fees were paid by a third-party defendant as a part of the settlement.
In re: Vander Sanden Resources, Inc. This complicated lender-liability lawsuit arose out of the business failure of a corporate borrower, allegedly based on the bank’s failure to lend. We were successful in obtaining a complete dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims and in negotiating a confidential (and favorable) settlement of the corporate debtor’s claims.
In re: Marine Fire Fighters. This lender liability lawsuit also stemmed from the failure of a business. The client lost a significant companion case handled by another law firm before retaining Karr Tuttle Campbell. Despite certain collateral estoppel problems and problematic testimony from the prior case, we developed substantial evidence in discovery, showing that the plaintiff, rather than our client, was responsible for the business failure. Eventually, we obtained summary judgment on our client’s counterclaim for the outstanding loan indebtedness. The liability claims were settled before trial, under confidential (and again favorable) terms.
