Financial Institutions Litigation

We tried a case for a national bank that was trying to enforce a personal guaranty of a substantial corporate debt. In response to the guarantor’s defense that it was not her signature on the guaranty, we presented handwriting analysis testimony by a former Oregon State Police forensic handwriting expert. The court held the guarantor liable. It found that, even though the signature in question was anomalous, it did match the guarantor’s signature on a sample of checks she admitted having written.

In a classic exemplar of bookkeeper embezzlement, we tried a case for a national bank against whom the plaintiff car dealership made allegations of failing to detect and put a stop to the bookkeeper’s fraudulent diversion of company funds to herself. A Portland jury rendered a complete defense verdict in favor of our client.

Our client, a national bank, was sued for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act for allegedly wrongful reporting of a personal debt owed by the plaintiff to the bank. After several attempts to collect a debt, the bank reported the balance due on the plaintiff’s credit report. Later, one of the plaintiff’s businesses applied for credit to purchase machinery but was unsuccessful, due in part to our client’s credit reporting. The plaintiff sued, but prior to trial the bank moved in limine to exclude expert testimony on the plaintiff’s damages on the grounds that FCRA does not apply where a credit report is used for business or commercial purposes. The district court agreed and dismissed the lawsuit. The plaintiff appealed …