Our team has achieved national prominence in the defense and settlement of individual and class actions routinely brought against consumer financial services companies.

We have litigated a wide range of issues confronted by consumer financial services businesses. Our clients include commercial and consumer banks, credit card issuers, residential lenders, automobile finance companies, student lending companies, credit reporting agencies, payment processors, investment banks, e-commerce companies and insurance companies.

Our litigators have defended and settled, including through innovative settlement structures, hundreds of class actions addressing a wide range of issues. We have argued three times to the California Supreme Court as lead counsel on issues of critical concern in connection with the defense of consumer class actions and routinely appear before federal and state appellate courts across the country.

Experience

• On an issue of first impression and of importance to retail banks, our litigation team secured a favorable ruling before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on behalf of JPMorgan holding that the Identity Theft Act does not apply to claims involving a deposit account because the defendant bank was not a “claimant” under the Act.
• We have successfully brought an end to nearly 10 years of litigation against our client, American Express, when a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh unanimously ruled that a federal district court judge did not abuse his discretion in approving American Express’ $6.7 million settlement of a class action case.
• Our team successfully obtained a judgment on behalf of WSI in a complex real estate dispute following a one-month trial. The court earlier granted summary judgment for WSI on plaintiff’s fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims.
• Handled a series of nationwide class actions pending in New York challenging retail bank overdraft fees. We negotiated a nationwide class action settlement in a parallel New York State Court case.
• Obtained dismissal of a putative class action against BMW Bank of North America and BMW Financial Services NA, LLC alleging over $40 million in potential damages under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The order provides valuable support to defendants’ efforts to defeat claims based on the unauthorized conduct of third parties.
• Representing trustees of one of the largest asset management funds in the world in a class action stemming from the August 2015 stock market flash crash.

Practice Contacts

James L. Bernard

212-806-5684

jbernard@stroock.com

Brian C. Frontino

305-789-9343

bfrontino@stroock.com

John R. Loftus

310-556-5954

jloftus@stroock.com

Stephen J. Newman

310-556-5982

snewman@stroock.com

Arjun P. Rao

310-556-5822

arao@stroock.com

Julia B. Strickland

310-556-5806

jstrickland@stroock.com

Quyen T. Truong

202-739-2888

qtruong@stroock.com

• James L. Bernard
• Daniel N. Bertaccini
• Elizabeth C. Carter
• Christine E. Ellice
• Ali Fesharaki
• Christopher R. Fredrich
• Brian C. Frontino
• Raymond A. Garcia
• Chelsea L. Goulet
• Cristina A. Guido
• K. Thomas Ko
• Dustin A. Linden
• John R. Loftus
• David W. Moon
• Stephen J. Newman
• Arjun P. Rao
• Julieta Stepanyan
• Julia B. Strickland
• Alisa M. Taormina
• Daniel J. Yost

• Financial Services Litigation, Regulation and Enforcement