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Walter Zalenski Quoted in Bloomberg BNA Article, "Supreme Court Turns Away Petition in Preemption, Rate Case"

Walter Zalenski was quoted in Chris Bruce's Bloomberg BNA article, "Supreme Court Turns Away Petition in Preemption, Rate Case," on June 27, 2016. 

The Supreme Court June 27 turned away a petition by Midland Funding LLC that sought review of a federal appeals court ruling in a major preemption and interest-rate battle ( Midland Funding LLC v. Madden, U.S. , No. 15-cv-00610, cert. denied 6/27/16 ).

The justices left standing a May 2015 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that said the National Bank Act doesn't preempt state-law usury claims brought by a proposed class plaintiff.

Odds for a hearing by the Supreme Court dropped in May, when the Solicitor General's brief said review was “not warranted.” The brief said there's no split among the circuits, that the lower courts didn't address all of the issues, and that Midland Funding could still prevail on remand.

But the SG's brief affirmed the valid-when-made rule, saying national banks may convey the right to enforce interest rates that were legal at origination.

Going forward, the brief by the SG and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency could take on more importance. Walter E. Zalenski, a partner with Buckley Sandler in Washington, who represents financial institutions, said it should help limit the effect of the case to the Second Circuit.

“The brief was a withering critique of the Second Circuit decision,” Zalenski told Bloomberg BNA June 27.

Click here to read the full article at www.bna.com.