PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The United
States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has breathed new life
into a major case against Zions First National Bank, a subsidiary
of Zions Bancorp (NASDAQ: ZION), for its alleged involvement in a
scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of depositors throughout
the United States. The case was
brought on behalf of the depositors by the Philadelphia law firm, Langer, Grogan &
Diver, P.C.
The Court vacated a lower court's determination that the case
could not proceed as a class action on behalf of all of the harmed
depositors. The Court cited internal Zions documents and quoted the
conclusions of an expert for the plaintiffs that Zions, "'allowed
the system to be used by High Risk originators whom it had to know
were engaged in fraud in clear disregard of the governing rules and
standards, ... made knowing misrepresentations to the other
participants in the ACH [automated clearing house] system, ...
facilitated the misuse of the system, and ... did all this knowing
of facts from which, as a banking institution, it had to know fraud
was taking place.'"
"We look forward to pressing ahead," said Peter Leckman, an attorney at Langer Grogan
& Diver. Howard Langer, the lead
attorney on the case, stated, "courts do not tolerate procedural
efforts to block redress for those seeking to hold companies
profiting from fraud accountable."
Damages in the case have been estimated to be in excess of
$50 million and are trebled under the
federal RICO Act.
The case is Reyes v. Netdeposit, et al.,
14-1228, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Langer, Grogan & Diver, P.C. (LGD), is a
nationally recognized complex commercial litigation law firm based
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. LGD
obtained one of the largest ever consumer class action recoveries
when it reclaimed over $150 million
dollars from Wachovia Bank on behalf of victims of
telemarketing fraud. For more information, visit the firm's website
at www.langergrogan.com.
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SOURCE Langer, Grogan & Diver, P.C.