Judge Throws Out Much of RMBS Suit Against BofA

A federal judge in New Jersey dismissed most of a lawsuit filed by Prudential Financial Inc. against Bank of America that claimed the North Carolina-based megabank sold them more than $1.9 billion worth of toxic mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis, according to multiple media reports on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler in Newark ruled that Prudential failed to show sufficient proof that Bank of America and its Merrill Lynch misrepresented the quality of its loans backing securities to ratings agencies, according to reports.

Prudential claimed in the lawsuit that Bank of America was guilty of "wide-ranging fraud" that left Prudential with "countless" bad securities that led to foreclosure or default. Chesler dismissed most of Prudential's claims with prejudice, according to reports. He did rule that Prudential could re-submit a claim involving 21 securitizations where Bank of America acted as underwriter but not as a sponsor or issuer.

Chesler said in his ruling that Prudential could not rely on "after the fact" computer analysis to determine that Bank of America knew at the time that the property appraisals for 54 securitizations it issued from 2004 to 2007 were being misrepresented.

Spokespeople from both Prudential and Bank of America declined to comment on the suit and the judge's ruling.

Bank of America has had its share of legal troubles over RMBS in the last year. In August 2014, the bank entered into a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice for record $16.65 billion over the packaging and selling of toxic mortgage-backed securities that led to the financial crisis. And last week, a federal judge in Manhattan denied the bank's request to remove a $1.27 billion penalty imposed in July 2014 for a government lawsuit against the bank which accused its Countrywide unit of fraud with regards to mortgage-backed securities.