Deutsche Bank, BNP Lawsuits Against BofA Over Losses on Notes Dismissed

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) won dismissal of claims by BNP Paribas Mortgage Corp. and Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) over hundreds of millions of dollars of losses on asset-backed notes they bought for more than $1.6 billion.

U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet, in a decision released yesterday, dismissed claims by BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank that Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America illegally kept loans and loan payments securing the notes.

The notes were issued by a special-purpose entity known as Ocala Funding LLC, which financed loans originated by Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., a mortgage lender that collapsed in 2009. Bank of America served as collateral agent for the loans.

BNP Paribas, a unit of Paris-based BNP Paribas (BNP) SA, and Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank filed contract lawsuits against Bank of America in November 2009. In August 2010, they filed related conversion suits. Sweet dismissed some of the contract claims in March. In the decision released yesterday, he threw out the conversion suits entirely.

Sweet gave BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank 30 days to file new complaints.

Robin Henry, a lawyer for BNP Paribas, didn’t immediately return a voice-mail message seeking comment on the ruling. William McDaniels, Deutsche Bank’s lawyer, had no immediate comment yesterday.

BNP Paribas bought $480.7 million of the notes issued by Ocala Funding, according to Sweet. Deutsche Bank bought $1.2 billion.

The cases are Deutsche Bank v. Bank of America, 10-cv- 08299, and BNP Paribas Mortgage Corp. v. Bank of America, 10-cv-08630, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Van Voris in New York at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net