BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES LITIGATION

Loan Enforcement and Asset Recovery

We helped a bank obtain a quick replevin order against a car dealer in federal court in St. Louis, which prompted the car dealer to work out a favorable settlement for repayment of the car dealer’s loan with the bank and dismissal of the car dealer’s lender liability claim against the bank.

We recently achieved a victory for a lender in a case triggered by one of the largest individual check fraud scams in the United States.

We recently obtained a successful verdict against a former star of the National Basketball Association and obtained repayment in full of the obligations owed to our client, including its attorney’s fees.

Bank and Finance Litigation

American National Insurance Company v. Citibank, N.A.
In a multimillion-dollar altered check case, the District Court granted Citibank’s motion for summary judgment against American National Insurance Co. (ANICO) on all of its claims, holding that because ANICO was not the payee on the checks, it lacked standing to recover from Citibank. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the District Court’s grant of summary judgment to Citibank. The United States Supreme Court denied ANICO’s request for review.
This was a significant victory for Citibank and all commercial banks, and was a closely watched matter between two of the country’s most respected banking and insurance companies. One of the largest individual check fraud scams had triggered ongoing disputes and significant precedent-setting court rulings regarding ANICO’s theory that depositary banks would have to be responsible for unnamed, unknown and unknowable non-payee “real owners” of checks.

Transcontinental Indemnity, Ltd. v. First Bank, Inc.
We won a judgment for First Bank following a four-day bench trial in the Circuit Court for St. Louis County, Missouri. The plaintiff sought more than $850,000 in actual damages, interest and attorney’s fees based on First Bank’s refusal to pay a cashier’s check made payable to the plaintiff.

Joseph Stephens & Co., Inc. v. Cikanek v. Citibank
Cikanek received a final money judgment award of $238,519 due to a failed relationship between himself and Joseph Stephens & Company (JSC), a New York brokerage firm. Cikanek filed a petition for a turn-over order regarding a JSC deposit account maintained by Citibank. Citibank argued that JSC secured a standby letter of credit and used the deposit account as collateral prior to Cikanek’s judgment lien; therefore, Citibank’s security interest in the account was superior to Cikanek’s pursuant to the UCC and its account agreement. The court agreed and denied Cikanek’s petition for the turn-over order against Citibank.

We represented an automotive finance company accused of sending the plaintiff letters stating she was pre-approved for auto financing up to $30,000, with a minimum financed amount of $10,000. The complaint alleged that our client accessed plaintiff’s credit report without authorization, in violation of the FCRA. The court held that the pre-approval letters contained something of value (a minimum financing of $10,000), were a firm offer of credit and did not run afoul of the FCRA. The court granted our client's motion for judgment on the pleadings. The Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court’s decision.

Portman v. Andrews et al.
Plaintiff Portman, pro se, brought action against Citibank and others asserting claims based on an alleged $4.7 billion certificate of obligation issued by Citigroup and owned by the Republic of Panama. Portman claimed he had been retained to try to redeem it for a fee. Portman also asserted claims based upon an alleged Citigroup bank draft in the amount of $12.4 million issued to Portman himself. The court ruled that all of Portman’s claims against Citibank were deficient because the claims were premised upon fraudulent documents. The court described Portman as a “vexatious litigant” and imposed monetary and non-monetary sanctions against Portman that prevent him from pursuing other litigation against any Citibank entity.

We represented a bank in a claim under the FCRA where the District Court granted motion for judgment on the pleadings against class action.

We represented a title insurance company in a case where the plaintiff sought to represent a class consisting of all customers of defendant in 32 states. The plaintiff claimed that various fees assessed against them as part of real estate closing procedures were improperly enhanced and that our client made misrepresentations about those fees during his real estate closing on a standardized financial disclosure form. The court denied remand, finding that the class damages at issue exceeded $5 million. Subsequently, the district court entered judgment in favor of our client, finding that its compliance with the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) in completing the financial form at issue precluded plaintiff’s claim under the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act.

Chandler v. Norwest Bank Minnesota
Court affirmed Rule 11 sanctions against the class action plaintiff's attorney for filing frivolous RESPA claims. Supreme Court denied certiorari.

Lender Liability Actions

We have successfully defended FCA US LLC in multiple class actions in several states alleging violations of the Truth in Lending Act and state consumer fraud laws based on allegedly misleading representations in retail installment contracts or allegedly improper fees.

We successfully defended a bank from claims that it breached duties to a borrower in the course of advancing several million dollars to the borrower under a line of credit.