Five pending federal court lawsuits against BNY Mellon regarding its pricing of standing instruction FX transactions have been moved from California and Pennsylvania to join three similar existing lawsuits in a consolidated case in the Southern District of New York.
A district court judicial panel accepted BNY Mellons request to centralize the eight lawsuits in New York, saying that doing so will serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of the litigation.
The three suits already in New York supported centralizing all the cases, while the five others opposed it, claiming that the suits were all different and that some named defendants in addition to BNY Mellon.
The court, however, said that the cases were similar enough in that they all involve BNY Mellons standing instruction service, whereby pension funds or other clients allow the custodian to conduct (generally) small FX transactions on their behalf without having to prenegotiate the prices or spreads. Centralizing the cases will avoid duplicative discovery, eliminate the risk of inconsistent pretrial rulings, and conserve the resources of the parties, their counsel and the judiciary, the judicial panel said in a court filing.
The plaintiffs all claim BNY Mellon overcharged them in the transactions.
The panel said that the pending case in the New York state court — the $2 billion case filed against BNY Mellon by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman — also weighed in on its decision to locate all the cases there.
Lawsuits by state officials in Virginia, Massachusetts, Ohio and Florida against BNY Mellon were not mentioned in the court transfer order, so would appear to be moving forward in their respective jurisdictions.
BNY Mellon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The cases consolidated in New York include:
Northern District of California
International Union of Operating Engineers, Stationary Engineers Local 39 Pension Trust Fund v. The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, et al., C.A. No. 3:11-03620
Bank of New York Mellon Corporation False Claims Act Foreign Exchange Litigation v. Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, C.A. No. 3:11-05683
Southern District of New York
Iron Workers Mid-South Pension Fund v. Gerald L. Hassell, et al., C.A. No. 1:11-08471
Marilyn Clark v. Gerald L. Hassell, et al., C.A. No. 1:11-08810
Louisiana Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System v. The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, et al., C.A. No. 1:11-09175
Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority v. The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, C.A. No. 2:11-01628
Western District of Pennsylvania
Isabel F. Sansano v. The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, et al., C.A. No. 2:11-01412
Joan Terrazas, et al. v. The Bank ofNew York Mellon Corporation, et al., C.A. No. 2:11-01461
(CG)