U.S. District Judge William Pauley III of the Southern District of New York winnowed down claims Wednesday against U.S. Bank and Bank of America in a housing crisis legacy suit brought by the German bank Commerzbank.

In Commerzbank v. U.S. Bank, 16-cv-04569, Pauley partially granted the banks' motion to dismiss claims against them as trustees of residential mortgage-backed securities pools. These securities helped sink the U.S. and then world economies after the housing crisis a decade ago. As Pauley noted, they also “ushered in a new era of mega cases.”

Judge Pauley


NYLJ/Rick Kopstein

“[O]ver the past decade, RMBS litigation has been a lot like musical chairs—virtually every party in the securitization process has sued or been sued by a counterparty in an unending game of blame shifting,” Pauley said.