Corporate Counsel and Law.com have an article about litigation arising from the subprime mortgage meltdown. The article is entitled Wipeout: Subprime Crisis Spawns Wave of Litigation, by Sherry Karabin.
Among the highlights:
A new study by Navigant Consulting Inc. offers the most detailed statistical portrait of subprime litigation yet. The Chicago-based firm reports that 448 subprime-related cases had been filed in federal court from January 1, 2007, to March 31, 2008. By comparison, the Resolution Trust Corp., which was created to deal with problems spawned by the savings and loan crisis, handled a total of 559 suits from 1989 to 1995.
And while subprime litigation steadily increased last year, filings really soared during the first quarter of 2008. “What we saw in 2007 was a mild breaking wave compared to the tsunami we’re witnessing now,” says Navigant managing director Jeff Nielsen. “In the most recent quarter, we’re looking at approximately two filings per day, including weekends.” Nielsen adds that 86 percent of all subprime cases that Navigant tracked in its study were still active.