Larkins Vacura Kayser Defeats $50 Million Damages Claim Against Bank Client

Larkins Vacura Kayser attorneys Cody Hoesly and Bill Larkins recently obtained the dismissal with prejudice of a $50 million damages claim against our client, a bank. Fourteen Oregon counties sued our client, along with several other banks, and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS), alleging that the defendants had conspired to defraud the counties of fees charged for recording mortgage assignments. The counties argued that the defendants recorded mortgages that falsely identified the beneficiary as MERS, which allowed the defendants to sell the mortgages on the secondary market without recording mortgage assignments with the counties. Following the court’s dismissal of all but one of the counties’ claims, and the court’s entry of an order sanctioning the counties for discovery violations as to their remaining claim, the counties agreed to dismiss their case with prejudice.