District Court Denies Class Certification for Lack of Temporal Constraint on Proposed Class Definition

Courts Class Action Mortgages Securities

On August 30, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an opinion and order denying the certification of a proposed class of investors alleging that a bank failed in its responsibilities as trustee of five residential mortgage-backed securities. The court found that “the proposed class cannot be certified because it is not ‘defined using objective criteria that establish a membership with definite boundaries’ . . . [such as] a fixed date, a window of acquisition, or length or continuity of ownership.” The judge ruled that the lack of a “temporal constraint on the proposed class definition” meant investors who bought and sold the securities before and after the alleged violations occurred could be included in the suit, despite the fact that any losses incurred by these groups would not necessarily be associated with the bank’s alleged misconduct. However, the court ruled that the plaintiff may file an amended motion proposing an alternative class construction within 45 days.