Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System v. Bank of America Corp.

939 F. Supp. 2d 445, 2013 WL 1664696, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56789
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedApril 17, 2013
DocketNo. 11 Civ. 733(WHP)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 939 F. Supp. 2d 445 (Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System v. Bank of America Corp.) 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.

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Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System v. Bank of America Corp., 939 F. Supp. 2d 445, 2013 WL 1664696, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56789 (S.D.N.Y. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

WILLIAM H. PAULEY III, District Judge.

Lead Plaintiff Pennsylvania Public School Employees-’ Retirement System [448]*448(“Plaintiff’) brings this putative class action against Bank of America Corporation (“BoA”) and current and past officers and directors of BoA: Kenneth D. Lewis, Joseph Lee Price, II, Brian T. Moynihan, Neil Cotty, and Charles H. Noski (the “Executive Defendants”). The Executive Defendants move to dismiss the Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaint. For the following reasons, the Executive Defendants’ motion is denied.

BACKGROUND

This Court’s July 11, 2012 Memorandum & Order describes the allegations under-girding this action. See Pa. Pub. Sch. Emps’ Ret. Sys. v. Bank of Am. Corp., 874 F.Supp.2d 341, 346 (S.D.N.Y.2012). In that Memorandum & Order, this Court dismissed all defendants except BoA from this action, granted Plaintiff leave to re-plead its claims against the Executive Defendants, and denied the motion to dismiss with respect to the Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 claim against BoA. Plaintiff filed its Amended Complaint on August 13, 2012.

Originally, Plaintiff alleged two claims against the Executive Defendants: (1) violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) and Rule 10b-5, and (2) violations of Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act. This Court dismissed Plaintiffs first claim because it failed to plead the required strong inference of scienter. Pa. Pub. Sch. Emps’ Ret. Sys., 874 F.Supp.2d at 359. This Court also dismissed Plaintiffs second claim for failing to plead the required culpable state of mind. Pa. Pub. Sch. Emps’ Ret. Sys., 874 F.Supp.2d at 368.

In its initial Complaint, Plaintiff alleged that the BoA Defendants: (1) tolerated robo-signing; (2) failed to disclose BoA’s vulnerability to repurchase claims; (3) deliberately circumvented internal controls in establishing allowances for repurchase claims; (4) kept reserves for repurchase claims low to forestall additional repurchase claims; (5) fought repurchase claims to discourage investors from asserting additional ones; (6) resisted investor attempts to examine loan files; (7) concealed BoA’s use of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (“MERS”); and (8) failed to notify mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”) purchasers of breaches. Plaintiff also alleged that the magnitude of the fraud created an additional basis for establishing scienter. This Court found those allegations insufficient and held that “Plaintiff does not allege that the Executive Defendants knew of specific contradictory information at the same time they made misleading statements.” Pa. Pub. Sch. Emps’ Ret. Sys., 874 F.Supp.2d at 359.

In its Amended Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that the Executive Defendants made misleading statements despite knowing that (1) BoA was vulnerable to repurchase claims; (2) BoA had a material weakness in its internal controls; and (3) BoA was failing to comply with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and SEC regulations.

First, Plaintiff alleges that a letter dated May 13, 2010 from BoA’s outside counsel to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (“FCIC”) establishes Moynihan’s scienter. The letter “summarized the negative effects flowing from BoA’s overemphasis on generating loans for securitization without due regard to prudent lending.” Pa. Pub. Sch. Emps’ Ret. Sys., 874 F.Supp.2d at 364. It was sent in response to a request from FCIC Chairman Green, who asked Moynihan to expand on prior testimony that he had given to the FCIC. (Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaint, dated August 13, 2012 (“AC”) ¶¶86, 301.) The letter contradicted Moynihan’s subsequent representations regarding BoA’s [449]*449vulnerability to repurchase claims. (AC ¶ 302.)

Plaintiff also alleges, more generally, that the other Executive Defendants knew of repurchase liabilities and did not adequately disclose them. Previously, this Court found that the Executive Defendants had been “forthright in disclosing losses on repurchase claims.” Pa. Pub. Sch. Emps’ Ret. Sys., 874 F.Supp.2d at 361. Plaintiff now alleges that even if the Executive Defendants disclosed certain repurchase claims, they failed to disclose repurchase demands. (AC ¶ 302). Repurchase claims refer to lawsuits or other formal proceedings seeking to compel repurchase; repurchase demands refer to pre-litigation letters requesting repurchase. Similarly, Plaintiff alleges that scienter can be inferred from the fact that BoA entered into tolling agreements with Government Sponsored Enterprises (“GSEs”) regarding their repurchase demands. (AC ¶ 302(a).) Plaintiff alleges that BoA wrongfully delayed disclosure of these demands.

Second, Plaintiff alleges that the Executive Defendants were knowingly responsible for material weaknesses in BoA’s internal controls. (AC ¶ 304.) Specifically, on January 29, 2010, the SEC sent a letter to BoA regarding BoA’s policy of accounting for certain contingencies. The January letter asked BoA to disclose its public filing information regarding its repurchase reserve calculation. Cotty and Noski were directly involved in replying to the letter. On May 3, 2010, the SEC sent another comment letter advising BoA that any “future filing” would require further disclosures. (AC ¶ 304(c).)

Third, Plaintiff alleges that the Executive Defendants failed to disclose information required by GAAP and SEC regulations. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges ■ that generally accepted accounting principles require disclosure of potential liabilities. The Executive' Defendants were made aware of potential liabilities through their review of various demand letters and their role in subverting generally accepted accounting principles. (AC ¶¶ 121(e), (k), (1), (n), 303, 304.) By certifying that they were complying with reporting obligations, they knowingly made materially misleading statements.

DISCUSSION

I. Legal Standard

On a motion to dismiss, a court must accept the material facts- alleged in the complaint as true and construe all reasonable inferences in plaintiffs favor. See Grandon v. Merrill Lynch & Co., 147 F.3d 184, 188 (2d Cir.1998). Nonetheless, '“factual allegations must be enough to raise a right of relief above the speculative level, on the assumption that all of the allegations in the complaint are true.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (requiring plaintiff to plead “enough fact[s] to raise a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence of [his claim]”). “To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955). “The plausibility standard is not akin to a ‘probability requirement,’ but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (citation omitted).

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939 F. Supp. 2d 445, 2013 WL 1664696, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56789, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pennsylvania-public-school-employees-retirement-system-v-bank-of-america-nysd-2013.