The litigation team at Patton Boggs represents clients in a wide array of cases arising from complex financial and commercial transactions. We draw resources from our business law practice group to provide a comprehensive approach to the client’s dispute, advising an extensive range of business clientele, including multinational corporations, financial institutions, financial services firms, and others. Among our areas of focus:
Financing Transaction Disputes
We represent financial institutions and other clients in disputes relating to financing transactions, including the origination, administration, securitization, and sale of loans. We work closely with our business team to draw on its extensive expertise in this area. Representative matters include:
- On behalf of a loan servicing company and a securitization trust, obtained a summary judgment compelling the repurchase of a multi-million dollar loan where the loan origination had falsely warranted that it had perfected its security interest in furniture and fixtures on the mortgaged property.
- Successfully defended CIT Group against lender liability claims exceeding $100 million. The federal trial court ruling was affirmed on appeal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The Fifth Circuit’s ruling also resulted in the dismissal with prejudice of companion litigation filed against CIT, other lenders, and their legal counsel in state court.
- Obtained monetary judgments that have improved the priority position of senior secured lenders as credits approached bankruptcy, and have obtained dismissal of claims by junior creditors attempting to leapfrog our more senior lender clients.
Securities Matters
We handle the full scope of securities matters, including private civil actions, SEC/CFTC investigations, and criminal matters. A number of our attorneys are veterans of the SEC and CFTC enforcement staff, and many others possess deep experience in securities matters. Please click here for complete information on the firm’s SEC Enforcement practice.
In claims of securities fraud, we have represented clients regarding alleged accounting irregularities, false statements or misrepresentations, market manipulation, initial public offering issues, pump-and-dump schemes, broker/dealer disputes, Regulation S violations, fair treatment violations, improper registration, derivative actions, insider trading, and audit committee and internal investigations. Examples include:
- Represented SulphCo and its chairman in a three-year SEC investigation. We persuaded the SEC to close the investigation and give the client a termination letter, which the client attached to its Form 8-K, informing the public and its shareholders of the SEC’s actions.
- Secured the dismissal of claims brought by a Credit Suisse/First Boston (CSFB) customer against the former head of research for CSFB. The case was a piggy-back attempt to take advantage of the large regulatory settlement and the criminal trial of Frank Quattrone, who our client supervised at CSFB.
Bankruptcy/Restructuring Matters
Our litigators work closely with our bankruptcy/restructuring team to handle adversary proceedings and contested matters in bankruptcy court, and to advise litigation clients regarding bankruptcy/ restructuring options. Representative matters include:
- On behalf of ExxonMobil, secured the appointment of a trustee to oversee the operation of a company in Chapter 11 reorganization that owed tens of millions of dollars in royalty payments. We subsequently filed motions seeking to require the debtor to repay the past-due royalties or give up its license to use ExxonMobil’s patents. As a result of these actions, we secured a favorable settlement in which the client received priority over other creditors.
- Assisted the liquidator of the Baptist Foundation of Arizona (BFA) in recovering millions of dollars from former insiders who had engaged in questionable real estate transactions with BFA and its affiliates. We also persuaded the bankruptcy court to reject the efforts of BFA’s former president to apply for a full discharge of his debts under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code.
Financial/Regulatory Matters
We assist financial institutions in litigation or investigations arising from transactions with, or regulation by, agencies such as the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of Thrift Supervision. Examples include:
- In 2006, obtained a $96.7 million judgment, affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Court, arising from the U.S. Government’s breach of a contractual commitment to provide economically favorable regulation of a savings and loan acquired out of receivership. This favorable judgment followed earlier litigation, in which we obtained summary judgment dismissing the FDIC’s effort to rescind the acquisition based on alleged fraud. We also defended the client in congressional and agency investigations into the terms of the acquisition.
- Negotiated comprehensive agreements with the Federal Reserve Board and other regulators relating to the operations of BCCI, a foreign-owned bank that had acquired a de facto equity interest in American banking institutions. We also defended a series of civil actions alleging violations of banking regulations by BCCI and related parties.