JPMorgan sued for $95 million over mortgage securities

Reuters, Tue Jan 3, 2012

A flag hangs on the wall of the JP Morgan company stall on the floor

 of the New York Stock Exchange in New York July 15, 2010.

(Credit: Reuters/Lucas Jackson)

(Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co has been sued for $95 million by the trustee for securities marketed in 2005 by the former Bear Stearns Cos over alleged misrepresentations regarding the underlying mortgage loans.

US Bank NA wants to force JPMorgan to buy back the mortgage loans because of alleged breaches of representations and warranties regarding the Bear Stearns Asset Backed Securities Trust 2005-4, for which it serves as trustee.

It also accused the largest U.S. bank by assets of refusing to provide the underlying loan files, as the trust documents require, so it can investigate the extent of the alleged breaches.

The unit of US Bancorp said it made its request at the direction of a majority certificate holder in the trust. US Bank also sued Bear Stearns and its former EMC Mortgage Corp unit. JPMorgan bought Bear Stearns in 2008.

JPMorgan spokeswoman Jennifer Zuccarelli declined to comment.

The lawsuit was filed on Friday in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, and publicly docketed on Tuesday.

It is one of many lawsuits seeking to hold banks responsible for investor losses over mortgages that may have been toxic, defective or improperly underwritten.

JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon last month told investors that the bank has been sued over $54.9 billion of private-label securitizations, excluding the former Washington Mutual Inc, and expects that number to rise.

"We think the disclosures are clear, risks were plain and set forth," he said. "Investors, mostly sophisticated, they understood and accepted it."

The case is Bear Stearns Asset Backed Securities Trust 2005-4 v. EMC Mortgage Corp et al, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 650003/2012.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by David Henry; editing by Gerald E. McCormick)