Defend against Lender Liability

As a lender, lender liability has become a real cause for concern. For years, lenders were the ones who typically sued borrowers for breach of loan agreements. Today however, borrowers are just as likely to sue lenders for those breaches.

Presently lenders are inundated with lender liability suits typically based on purported promises, such as to extend the maturity dates of loans, alter the terms of loan agreements, or to forbear from foreclosing on real property collateral. 

A loan agreement is like any other contract. If the agreement was fraudulently induced or there was an absence of mutual consent, the agreement cannot be enforced. If the loan contract was breached, the lender can be sued if it was the breaching party.

The most common remedy pursued by borrowers when a breach of a loan agreement has occurred is the recovery of damages. This can include both the difference between the loan amount and the costs for obtaining a replacement loan, and any lost opportunity or lost profit damages.

Even if these suits lack merit, lenders are required to spend time and money defending against them. As a result, it is imperative for lenders to aggressively defend lender liability suits to minimize the time and expense incurred. 

These cases, in particular, involve a great deal of complicated rules and guidelines by which both parties initially agreed upon. In the court of law, understanding all the parameters that factor into these cases can be especially hard to follow. That's where the help of a litigation support specialist comes in.

Litigation support specialist Michael F. Richards draws upon his more than 30 years’ experience in the banking industry to help lenders in there litigation. He has acted as a financial expert witness in many trials involving lender liability, helping the judge and jury to better understand the terms of the agreement and helping to bring favorable results for the lender.