Second Circuit – Supervised release: Powell v. Ocwen Fin. Corp.

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United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Supervised release — Special conditions — Monitoring computer activity

Powell v. Ocwen Fin. Corp.

23-999

Judges Chin, Carney, and Sullivan

Background: The trustees of an ERISA-regulated plan invested in residential mortgage-backed securities issued by six RMBS trusts. Some of the RMBSs were issued as notes pursuant to indenture agreements while others were issued as trust certificates. The trustees sued the services of the underlying mortgages for breach of fiduciary duty. The trustees appealed from the grant of summary judgment to the servicers.

Ruling: The Second Circuit affirmed in part and remanded in part. The court noted that with respect to the notes issued pursuant to the indenture agreements, the district court did not err in concluding that the underlying mortgages are not plan assets because they lacked substantial equity features. However, the trust certificates are equity interests because the certificates represent beneficial interests in the RMBS trusts.

R. Bradley Miller, of R Bradley Miller Law, and Gary A. Gotto and Ron Kilgard, of Keller Rohrback, for the plaintiffs-appellants; Yaakov M. Roth, Howard F. Sidman, and Amanda L. Dollinger of Jones Day, Anton Metlitsky, of O’Melveny & Myers, and Richard A. Jacobsen, Thomas N. Kidera, and Aaron M. Rubin, of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, for the defendants-appellees.