In re: Community Bank of Northern Va. Mortgage Lending Practices Litig. — class action — affirmance — Jordan

Today the Third Circuit upheld a district court ruling certifying a nationwide litigation class in a mortgage-loan practices suit brought against a bank now owned by PNC Bank. The court rejected a laundry list of challenges by PNC to class certification, notably its argument that intra-class conflicts defeat adequacy of representation because the same counsel represent different sub-classes; that would have been a problem if it were a limited-fund settlement class, but it was no longer a problem as a litigation class with no limited fund. (Imagine my excitement to see the court cite Ortiz v. Fibreboard, the somewhat obscure mass-tort case that I wrote my law review note on [what! Lexis is charging 22 bucks to access my note?] way back when.)

Joining Jordan were Fisher and Greenaway. Arguing counsel were Martin Bryce of Ballard Spahr for the bank and Bruce Carlson and Roy Walters for the appellees.