Orrick Secures Win for Ocwen in Long-Running Consumer Class Action

August.04.2022

A team of litigators from Orrick scored a big win in a consumer class action filed against their client, Ocwen Financial Corporation in Weiner v. Ocwen Financial Corporation, No. 2:14-cv-02597. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in 2014, alleged that Ocwen improperly marked up certain types of property valuations and charged those costs to borrowers in violation of the mortgage contracts. The lawsuit also alleged that this conduct violated the civil RICO statute, resulting in a claim for treble damages. Plaintiff claimed damages of ~$70 million in marked up fees but trebled for a total of ~$210 million. A class trial on Plaintiff’s claims, including the RICO claim, was scheduled for March 2022.

The trial was on the horizon when the Supreme Court issued its decision in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 141 S. Ct. 2190 (2021). Following that decision, Orrick came up with a strategy to decertify the class based on the holding in TransUnion. Essentially, the Court in Weiner had already found that there was a factual dispute as to how many members of the class had paid the allegedly marked up fees. TransUnion, though, held that each individual class member needs to have standing at trial, and that class members who didn’t suffer concrete harm didn’t have standing. This meant that Plaintiff couldn’t satisfy the predominance requirement of Rule 23—Plaintiff’s burden to prove that each member of the class suffered monetary harm sufficient to demonstrate standing would entail an individualized inquiry.

Ocwen moved for decertification of the class on these grounds in September 2021. After vacating the impending trial date in December 2021, on August 3, 2022, the Court granted Ocwen’s motion for decertification and agreed that, following TransUnion, the questions of law and fact common to class members did not predominate over any questions affecting only individual members under Rule 23(b)(3).

Litigation Daily recognized the Orrick team – Rich Jacobsen, Aaron Rubin, Jennifer Keighley and Jessica Edmundson – in their Litigator of the Week feature for the win.

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Richard Jacobsen Partner, Komplexe Streitfälle & Streitbeilegung, White Collar, Investigations, Securities Litigation & Compliance

New York

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Finance Sector
Komplexe Streitfälle & Streitbeilegung
White Collar, Investigations, Securities Litigation & Compliance
Interne Revision
Mass Torts & Product Liability
Class Action Defense
(Schieds ) Gerichtsverfahren
Fintech

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Richard Jacobsen Partner

New York

Rich serves as lead counsel for Credit Suisse’s entire residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) docket in federal and state courts throughout the country. He is lead counsel for Goldman Sachs in two RMBS cases in the SDNY. For nearly a decade, he has been lead counsel for Ocwen Financial Services in all matters concerning its market-leading business servicing loans in residential mortgage-backed securitizations. He is currently lead counsel for Nationstar Mortgage LLC d/b/a Mr. Cooper in a breach of contract action pending in the Delaware Court of Chancery. Rich has also frequently represented companies with respect to disputes involving the distressed debt trading market, including Jefferies and Citibank, and frequently tries nine figure disputes in the most important bankruptcy jurisdictions in the United States for clients such as UBS and Blackstone.

He and his Orrick team bring to each representation a combination of deep financial markets knowledge, holistic litigation strategy and a problem-solving mentality. In an industry where many cases are settled, he has established a formidable record at trial and on appeal, while achieving regulatory settlements at a small fraction of the industry benchmarks.

Named Litigators of the Week by The American Lawyer for his representation of Credit Suisse that yielded a precedent-setting decision from the New York Court of Appeals that will change the future of RMBS litigation, clients laud Rich telling Chambers (2022), “He makes my job easier by deploying a combination of impeccable legal skill, excellent judgment and a knowledge of the financial services industry.” “I would recommend Rich to anyone.” (2024) "He makes my job easier by deploying a combination of strengths - impeccable legal skills, excellent judgment, knowledge of the finance sector and a formidable reputation." Echoing that praise, clients say (2021) “I would recommend Richard Jacobsen in the highest terms,” he is (2020) “an exceptional litigator” and “a master of navigating commercial disputes.” Chambers also reports that clients regard him as “a commercial disputes wizard.” Clients hold Rich in high regard, telling Legal 500 our commercial disputes team is (2021) “brilliant,” while the publication calls out his “business critical disputes” work for Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs. Clients further endorse Rich when speaking to Legal 500, noting he (2020) “is always available and willing to do what is necessary in any situation. His knowledge of the industry and more importantly where we fit in the industry has paid tremendous dividends from a legal representation perspective. I have not dealt with an attorney from any other firm that had the combination of knowledge, ability, reputation and judgment that Rich has.” Another client called out Rich’s “razor sharp intellect” which sets him apart from other disputes and trial lawyers.

A first-chair trial lawyer recognized as one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Litigators in America, Rich has litigated commercial, securities and product liability disputes for clients in many other industries in venues across the country. His clients have included: Amazon, Caesars Entertainment, Inc., The Dow Chemical Company, Microsoft, DISH Network, Acer and Wyeth. He has argued numerous appeals at the state and federal levels and frequently represents clients before state and federal regulators. He has argued multiple times before seven of the eight current justices in the Commercial Division of New York’s Supreme Court, New York County, and has arbitrated before the American Arbitration Association and London Court of International Arbitration.

Aaron M. Rubin Partner, Komplexe Streitfälle & Streitbeilegung, Wertpapierrechtsstreitigkeiten

Orange County

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Komplexe Streitfälle & Streitbeilegung
Wertpapierrechtsstreitigkeiten
Mass Torts & Product Liability

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Aaron M. Rubin Partner

Orange County

An accomplished litigator, Aaron advises leading investment banks, financial institutions, mortgage servicers, non-bank lenders, and alternative asset managers on the unique issues impacting the finance sector, from major commercial disputes to securities litigation and enforcement actions. Leveraging his dispute resolution expereince, Aaron serves as a trusted partner to clients, advising on best practices for mitigating risk long before there is the threat of litigation.

In 2018, Aaron moved to the firm’s Orange County office from New York. The move served his New York-based traditional financial institution clients needing counsel on the West Coast, while also expanding his practice.

Jennifer Keighley Partner, Komplexe Streitfälle & Streitbeilegung, Supreme Court & Appellate

New York

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Komplexe Streitfälle & Streitbeilegung
Supreme Court & Appellate
Finance
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Jennifer Keighley Partner

New York

Jennifer has co-authored numerous briefs and dispositive motions in federal and state courts of appeals and trial courts, and at both the certiorari and merits stage in the U.S. Supreme Court. Her experience covers a wide range of substantive areas, including constitutional law and statutory interpretation, labor and employment, intellectual property, healthcare law, privacy law, class action defense, securities litigation, and complex commercial litigation. She has deep expertise in appeals and critical motions in financial services litigation, including representing financial institutions in major RMBS cases and in putative and certified class actions, and she is currently representing Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and other underwriters of initial and secondary offerings in multiple securities class actions. Jennifer also maintains an active pro bono practice focusing on the areas of immigrant and women’s rights.

While at Orrick, Jennifer has argued and won two appeals. She argued and won an appeal on behalf of OpenTV raising issues of contract interpretation in the California Court of Appeal. She also argued and won an appeal on behalf of an immigration client seeking relief under the Convention Against Torture in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Prior to joining Orrick, Jennifer was a Staff Attorney at a national nonprofit and an associate at a boutique firm. In her prior roles, she participated in all aspects of litigation, arguing and briefing dispositive motions, examining multiple witnesses at trial, and taking depositions of both fact and expert witnesses. Jennifer graduated from Yale Law School, where she was an Editor on the Yale Law Journal. Immediately following law school, she served as a law clerk to Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.