Our Day In Court : Calendar
http://www.restorefanniemae.us/calendar
Our Day In Court : Calendar
No docket proceedings yet.
See below for updates as of May 14, 2014
§ Into the Senate Banking Committee’s mark-up hearing to consider S. 1217, Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2013, a number of parties have weighed in on the contents of the bill over the past few days. Just last week, internal memos from FNMA, FMCC and FHFA were publically released while other constituents have been actively voicing concerns and recommendations.
§ It is our understanding that FNMA and FMCC sent memos to FHFA describing issues and recommendations for the draft legislation. The Senate Banking Committee then received a separate memo from FHFA identifying other concerns with the bill. Based on the letter by FMCC’s CEO, it appears that FMCC “provided significant technical comments on the current draft of the Johnson-Crapo bill” at the request of the U.S. Treasury (FMCC’s discussion draft was dated March 26, 2014). FNMA, FMCC and FHFA raised key concerns with the J/C bill and offered recommendations in their discussion drafts. Looking to all three documents, we find that the discussion focused on the following key topics: impact on mortgage rates, availability of private capital, considerations for the transition, legal status of GSEs during the transition and workforce retention concerns.
§ While the Senate Banking Committee should find these comments to be helpful, legislators have much to consider here (along with comments from other constituents as well). While the Senate Banking Committee indefinitely delayed consideration of the J/C bill this morning (recess after hearing opening statements), comments from various legislators today suggests that committee members asked for a brief delay so that additional issues could be worked through before a final vote. According to news outlets, the vote was delayed as the committee looks to gain support from roughly six democrats who have not expressed support for the proposed bill. We suspect more conversations are needed to garner enough support to demonstrate to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that there is enough momentum behind the bill so that it can be considered for a broader floor vote. Several news outlets have quoted sources as saying the committee is expected to begin considering amendments to the bill and that a vote would occur next week at the earliest.
§ Separately, a new advocacy group calling itself United for American Homeownership, has started to run ads and solicit votes for an online petition, to “encourage Congress to enact housing reform legislation that preserves and strengthens Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and their core mission of making homeownership more accessible and affordable for all Americans.” The group’s website says its board includes the following individuals: Bob Kerry, the former United States senator; Harry C. Alford, chief executive of the National Black Chamber of Commerce; and Joshua Angel, a bankruptcy and restructuring lawyer with Herrick Feinstein in New York. The groups believes that any housing reform must: “protect consumers, promote responsible lending, ensure access to affordable housing, support ongoing economic recovery, preserve and strengthen Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and respect the rights of stakeholders who have supported the two companies.”
§ On April 28, 2014, the Milken Institute hosted panel discussion to discuss “Housing Finance and Private Capital” which including the following notable speakers: Donald Layton (CEO of Freddie Mac), James Lockhart (Vice Chairman at WL Ross & Co.), Josh Rosner (Managing Director at Graham Fisher & Co.), Gene Sperling (Former Director, National Economic Council, The White House), with Phillip Swagel (Senior Fellow, Milken Institute; Professor, University of Maryland School of Public Policy) moderating the discussion. The conversation touched on the history of the GSEs and evaluated the contents of the J/C bill (availability of private capital, capital requirements, role of FMIC, etc.).
o Video Replay Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d40amHaoPFY#t=18m58s
§ Earlier this week, Jonathan Macey, the Sam Harris Professor of Corporate Law, Corporate Finance, and Securities Law at Yale Law School and Logan Beirne of Information Society Project Fellow at Yale Law School, published a paper entitled “Stealing Fannie and Freddie.” Their paper “analyzes the current House and Senate housing finance reform proposals and faults their modes of liquidation for departing from legal norms, thereby harming investors and creditors, taxpayers, and the broader economy.”
o Document Link : http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2429974
See below for updates as of April, 7 2014
Discovery shall commence on Monday, April 7, 2014, and shall be completed by Thursday, July 31, 2014.
During the discovery period, the court will conduct a telephonic status conference every two weeks, unless both parties concur and inform the court that a status conference is not necessary. Additionally, the court will make itself available if a dispute requiring its immediate attention arises at any other time during the discovery period. Status conferences shall take place on:
o Wednesday, April 23, 2014, at 1:00 p.m.
o Wednesday, May 7, 2014, at 11:00 a.m.
o Wednesday, May 21, 2014, at 11:00 a.m.
o Wednesday, June 4, 2014, at 11:00 a.m.
o Wednesday, June 18, 2014, at 11:00 a.m.
o Wednesday, July 2, 2014, at 11:00 a.m.
o Wednesday, July 16, 2014, at 11:00 a.m.
o Wednesday, July 30, 2014, at 11:00 a.m.
• Defendant shall serve on plaintiffs its RCFC 26(a)(1)(A)(i) and (ii) initial disclosures no later than Monday, April 7, 2014.
• Plaintiffs shall serve on the government their initial round of document requests, if any, no later than Monday, April 7, 2014.
• The parties shall serve interrogatories, if any, no later than Monday, April 7, 2014.
• The responding party shall serve any objections to interrogatories within 14 calendar daysof receiving such interrogatories.
• With respect to all discovery requests, the responding party shall serve responses within 30 calendar days of receiving such requests.
• The parties shall attempt to resolve objections, and discuss any issues regarding the format for production of responsive materials, over the 7-day period following the service of objections. If objections are not resolved by the end of that period, the objecting party shall bear the burden of moving for a protective order no later than 7 days after the close of that period.
• Depositions shall be completed no later than Thursday, July 31, 2014.
• Nothing in this order prevents the parties from entering into a claw-back agreement pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5) and Federal Rule of Evidence 502.
• In addition, by no later than Thursday, August 14, 2014, the parties shall file a joint status report (“JSR”) suggesting future proceedings in this case. If the parties cannot agree on a specific course of action, they must set forth their respective positions in the JSR, and not in separate status reports. Separate status reports shall be stricken from the docket.
See below for updates as of March, 24 2014
- Court of Federal Claims: In the Court of Federal Claims, given the parties could not reach an agreement on a joint discovery schedule proposal, each party filed their own proposed discovery schedule with the court. Fairholme’s proposed schedule contemplates discovery to commence on or before April 7, 2014 and to be completed by July 31, 2014. Defendants; however, argue that plaintiff’s request is unreasonable and that they would need at least 12 months to produce documents and prepare privilege logs and produce responsive documents.
- District Court: In the District Court, we saw two documents filed with the docket, including a supplemental memorandum of law of plantiffs and plaintiffs’ cross-motion for summary judgment. See attached for the pdfs for both. The PDF describing cross-motion for summary judgment is recommended for those who are looking to better understand the District Court case proceedings.
- PLS Settlement: On Friday, FMCC filed an 8-K with the SEC, noting that FHFA announced that it has reached a settlement with Credit Suisse, related companies and specifically named individuals to settle litigation previously initiated by FHFA related to PLS purchased by FNMA and FMCC. Per the 8-K, CS will pay FMCC roughly $651 million (roughly 75% of total settlement proceeds benefits FMCC which is in line with the split in total claimed principal amount between FNMA and FMCC as part of this litigation).
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