REFinBlog

Editor: David Reiss
Cornell Law School

March 28, 2013

Bransten Trio: Part Tres

By David Reiss

The last of the Bransten Trio of cases (previously, I wrote of Part Un and Part Deux) dealing with Allstate’s complaint against Morgan Stanley has some of the allegedly misrepresentative language at issues in such cases.  A sampling includes

  • “These mortgage loans may be considered to be of a riskier nature than mortgage loans made by traditional sources of financing . . ..  The underwriting standards used in the origination of [these loans] are generally less stringent than those of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac with respect to a borrower’s credit history and in certain other respects . . . . As a result of this less stringent approach to underwriting, the mortgage loans purchased by the trust may experience higher rates of delinquencies, defaults and foreclosures . . ..” (24)
  • “It is expected that a substantial portion of the mortgage loans will represent”  a DTI ratio exception, a pricing exception, a LTV ratio exception or “an exception from certain requirements of a particular risk category.” (25)
  • The court noted that the Morgan Stanley defendants indicated that in connection with various MBS certificates they issued, “‘a significant number,’ ‘a substantial portion,’ or a ‘substantial number’ of the loans represented underwriting exceptions.” (25)

Justice Bransten found, as she did in the other two cases referenced above, that such warnings are “ineffective.” (26) She further notes that the defendants’ “statements are misleading to the extent that they imply that defendants would act in accordance with, rather that [sic] completely disregard, the results of their findings” from their reviews of the loans securing the MBS certificates at issue in the case. (29)

 

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