A federal court panel said Bank of America can't consolidate multiple lawsuits involving losses suffered from the collapse of Taylor Bean & Whitaker and Colonial Bank in a multibillion-dollar fraud.
According to a recent report by Dow Jones, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation rejected Bank of America's bid to transfer ongoing litigation in Washington with three other suits involving losses related to the TBW fraud that are pending in New York.
Bank of America — which is suing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), the receiver of Alabama's defunct Colonial Bank, for $1.75 billion in federal court in Washington — wanted the case moved to New York, where another judge is overseeing lawsuits filed by Germany's Deutsche Bank, and a unit of BNP Paribas against BofA.
The decision is a victory for the FDIC and the European banks, which had all opposed the transfer request.
Lawyers for the FDIC had accused BofA with "procedural gamesmanship" in an attempt to seek delay. In addition the regulator charged the bank with "forum shopping" in order to avoid a ruling by the Washington judge.
A BofA spokesman declined to comment on the decision.
According to recent reports by ASR's sister publication National Mortgage News, at least $30 billion of TBW’s MSRs are in the process of being auctioned off to the highest bidder.
