On March 11, 2011, AA LLP’s Jennie Lee Anderson, lead counsel for Plaintiff in Ralston v. Mortgage Investors Group and Countrywide Home Loans Inc., Case No. 08-00536 JF, argued before the District Court for the Northern District of California in opposition to defendant Countrywide’s motion to strike class allegations. At the heart of the case are certain Pay Option ARM loans, which Plaintiff alleges Countrywide sold through a network of correspondent lenders, including, but not limited to, Mortgage Investors Group, that are similarly deceptive and fraudulent in nature. In its motion to strike, Countrywide seeks to drastically limit the number of class members Plaintiff may represent by limiting his claims to class members whose loans were obtained through Mortgage Investors Group. In advance of the argument, The Daily Journal interviewed Ms. Anderson about the case and the pending motion. Ms. Anderson was confident Plaintiff would prevail: “Countrywide’s motion is ‘a desperate attempt’ to deny discovery the plaintiffs believe will ‘show that all of these loans commonly flow from Countrywide,’” Ms. Anderson told the daily legal newspaper. According to Ms. Anderson, the motion should be heard, if at all, on the class certification schedule set by the Court and after the Plaintiffs have an opportunity to conduct discovery. The motion was taken under submission by Judge Fogel who indicated the Court would issue a written order.
