Thursday, July 07, 2011

Allstate files $104 million lawsuit against Morgan Stanley for RMBS loans

Allstate Insurance (ALL: 30.67 -0.36%) filed a $104 million lawsuit against Morgan Stanley (MS: 22.66 -2.12%) this week, claiming the investment bank misrepresented toxic loans underlying residential mortgage-backed securities sold to Allstate.

Allstate's complaint against Morgan Stanley is the latest in a series of legal filings initiated by the insurer against big banks on the grounds they sold RMBS without disclosing some of the dangers tied to the underlying collateral.

By mid-March, Allstate had sued seven banks over RMBS sales, including Credit Suisse (CS: 38.63 -1.55%), Bank of America (BAC: 10.71 -2.64%) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM: 40.495 -1.30%). Three months ago, Allstate estimated it had acquired $2.78 billion in mortgage-backed securities during the run-up to the financial meltdown.

In the suit filed this week, Allstate claims it purchased $104 million in RMBS securitized by Morgan Stanley (MS: 22.66 -2.12%) after trusting the bank's assertion that loan originators used conservative underwriting guidelines.

Read on.

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