In Re IndyMac Mortgage-Backed Securities Litigation

793 F. Supp. 2d 637, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67781, 2011 WL 2508254
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJune 21, 2011
Docket09 Civ. 4583(LAK)
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 793 F. Supp. 2d 637 (In Re IndyMac Mortgage-Backed Securities Litigation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re IndyMac Mortgage-Backed Securities Litigation, 793 F. Supp. 2d 637, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67781, 2011 WL 2508254 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

LEWIS A. KAPLAN, District Judge.

This putative class action arises from the collapse of the United States market for mortgage-backed securities. The securities at issue here, known as mortgage pass through certificates (the “Certificates”), were issued pursuant to three registration statements and related prospectuses and prospectus supplements (the “Offering Documents”) filed by IndyMac MBS, Inc. (“IndyMac MBS”). The Court assumes familiarity with its prior opinion. 1 The matter is before the Court on three motions to intervene and a motion for leave to amend the amended consolidated complaint (“ACC”).

Facts

I. The Securities

A Certificate is a type of mortgage-backed security that entitles its owner to a *641 portion of the revenue stream generated by an underlying pool of residential mortgage loans. Here, IndyMac Bank originated or acquired the individual mortgage loans that underlie the Certificates. The loans then were transferred to IndyMac MBS, which bundled them into groups, or pools. The pools were transferred to issuing trusts, which created the Certificates. The issuing trusts then transferred the Certificates to IndyMac MBS which, in turn, sold them to the specific underwriters for each offering. After the Certificates were rated by rating agencies, the underwriters offered them to investors.

II. The Action and Motions

On May 14, 2009, Police and Fire Retirement System of the City of Detroit (“Detroit”), which allegedly had purchased certain Certificates, brought a putative class action asserting that the Offering Documents contained misrepresentations and omissions in violation of federal securities laws. 2 On June 29, 2009, the Wyoming State Treasurer and Wyoming Retirement System (collectively, ‘Wyoming”) filed a similar action. 3 As contemplated by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (“PSLRA”), the Court then considered various motions — including by Detroit and Wyoming — for the appointment of a lead plaintiff. 4 Wyoming moved also to consolidate the two actions. 5 The Court named Wyoming the lead plaintiff and, without opposition by Detroit, granted the motion to consolidate. 6 The order of consolidation gave Wyoming substantial control over the pretrial proceedings and ordered it to file a consolidated class complaint. 7 On October 9, 2009, Wyoming filed such a complaint 8 and, on October 29, 2009, the ACC. 9 Wyoming is the only plaintiff named on the ACC. Neither Detroit nor anyone else objected to lead counsel’s naming of Wyoming as the sole plaintiff.

Defendants then filed a number of motions to dismiss the ACC. 10 The Court ruled on them in IndyMac I. Two aspects of that decision are relevant here. First, the Court held that Wyoming has standing to sue only with respect to offerings in which it had purchased Certificates. The Court therefore dismissed for lack of standing Wyoming’s claims relating to all offerings except those in which it allegedly had purchased Certificates. 11

Second, the Court dismissed Wyoming’s claims against Bank of America (“BoA”), which Wyoming had sued in its alleged capacity as “successor in interest” to Countrywide Securities Corporation (“Countrywide”) and Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith (“Merrill Lynch”), underwriters of several of the offerings at issue. The Court did so on the ground that the ACC failed to allege any facts supporting a departure from the general rule that a parent corporation is not liable for its subsidiaries’ acts solely by virtue of its ownership interest. 12

The motions at issue here stem from those two holdings. The motions to intervene aim to cure Wyoming’s standing deficiency with respect to numerous offerings. *642 Each movant alleges that it purchased securities pursuant to one or more offerings in respect of which Wyoming lacks standing to sue. On that basis, each seeks to intervene to assert claims under Sections 11, 12(a)(2) and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933 on behalf of a class, the members of which purchased Certificates in the pertinent offering. 13

In addition, Wyoming seeks leave to amend the ACC to add Countrywide and Merrill Lynch as defendants with respect to the claims concerning offerings that they allegedly underwrote. 14 Several of the proposed intervenors join the motion for leave to amend, assuming of course that they are permitted to intervene. Defendants oppose both motions, principally on timeliness grounds. 15

Discussion

I. Motions to Intervene

A. Statute of Repose

As noted in IndyMac I, “no Section 11 claim may be brought ‘more than three years after the security was bona fide offered to the public,’ ” and “no Section 12(a)(2) claim may be brought ‘more than three years after the sale.’ ” 16 Section 15 imposes vicarious liability for persons controlling violators of Sections 11 and 12. Claims under that section therefore are subject to the statute of repose governing the primary violation. 17 Defendants correctly point out that the statutes of repose have expired on the majority of the claims that movants seek to assert. Movants respond that the statutes were tolled while the claims were included as part of this action, viz. between the filing of Detroit’s original complaint and the Court’s decision in IndyMac I.

Although some cases have reached a different result, this Court is persuaded by Judge Castel’s recent ruling that neither American Pipe nor any other form of tolling may be invoked to avoid'the three year statute of repose set forth in Section 13 of the Securities Act of 1933. 18 *643 The putative intervenors here cannot avoid the statute of repose on a “relation back” theory under Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(c) because the statute of repose by its terms allows no exceptions. 19

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
793 F. Supp. 2d 637, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67781, 2011 WL 2508254, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-indymac-mortgage-backed-securities-litigation-nysd-2011.