Justia U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Appellant, a former shareholder in Wachovia, sought to recover personally for the decline in value of his shares of Wachovia stock during the recent financial crisis. The district court dismissed the suit, concluding that appellant's complaint stated a claim derivative of injury to the corporation and that he was therefore barred from bringing a direct or individual cause of action against defendants. The court held that because appellant's varied attempts to recast his derivative claim as individual were unavailing, the judgment of the district court was affirmed. View "Rivers, Jr. v. Wachovia Corp., et al." on Justia Law

Plaintiff commenced an action under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), 15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq., seeking a declaratory judgment that he was entitled to rescind a financing transaction and an award of statutory damages. At issue was whether a lender violated TILA in providing a notice to a borrower who was refinancing his mortgage of the right to rescind the transaction, using a form of notice substantially similar to Model Form H-8 in the Appendix to Regulation Z, 12 C.F.R. pt. 226, rather than using Model Form H-9, which was designed for refinancing transactions. The court agreed with the district court and affirmed the dismissal of the complaint for failure to state a claim where Model Form H-8 included all of the information required by TILA and Regulation Z to advise borrowers of the right to rescind a consumer credit transaction, including a financing transaction. View "Watkins v. Sun Trust Mortgage Inc." on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed a quiet title claim against Bank of New York ("BNY") after he failed to make payments on a loan for over a half of a year and BNY foreclosed on his property. At issue was whether BNY lacked authority to carry out the sale where plaintiff alleged that America's Wholesale Lender, the original lender, had authority to foreclose on the property. The court held that plaintiff's note plainly constituted a negotiable instrument under Va. Code. Ann. 8.3A-104 and that note was endorsed in blank. Therefore, BNY possessed the note at the time it attempted to foreclose on the property and once plaintiff defaulted on the property, Virgina law straightforwardly allowed BNY to take the actions that it did.