Christopher A. Riley

Financial Services Litigation 

• Counsel to some of the largest RMBS and CMBS trustees in various investor disputes and commercial litigation matters.
• Counsel to several payment-solutions providers in commercial and consumer-related litigation.
• Obtained complete dismissal of a lawsuit before discovery for a multibillion-dollar bank and financial services technology and payment-systems provider in a state-court class action seeking the recovery of checking account overdraft fees. Represented a second multibillion-dollar bank in a federal-court class action regarding checking account overdraft fees, with the case settling on favorable terms.
• Obtained complete dismissal of a federal-court putative class action against a large retail company arising out of credit card holds.
• Obtained a denial of motion for TRO and complete dismissal of a lawsuit before discovery for a payment-solutions provider in a contract action brought by a consumer-payment processor.
• Obtained complete dismissal of a lawsuit before discovery for a full-service payment-solutions provider in federal-court litigation arising out of its payment-processing business.
• Obtained dismissal of putative class action litigation involving wrongful foreclosure claims against a national mortgage servicer.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a multiple listing service in a putative RESPA class action.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a mortgage servicer in a putative FDCPA class action.
• Obtained complete dismissal of a lawsuit before discovery against a publicly traded government-sponsored enterprise and a national bank in federal-court mortgage and foreclosure litigation. Dismissal affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit. 

• Counsel to nonbank mortgage servicers in individual and class action consumer financial services litigation matters.
• Represented multibillion-dollar community banks in a variety of litigation and receivership matters arising out of promissory notes, guaranties, receiverships, mortgages, and foreclosures.
• Represented several multibillion-dollar banks in loss-share disputes with the FDIC.
• Counsel to banks, REITs, and other clients in real estate litigation, including disputes regarding purchase and sale agreements, leases, and property maintenance and operation.
• Represented appraisal management companies in regulatory and licensing disputes.
• Represented the court-appointed Examiner in the Enron Corp. bankruptcy.

Trials

• Trial counsel defending an international, privately held card-linked marketing company in a federal court bench trial. The case settled for nuisance value after the plaintiff concluded its case and before the client had to present its case.
• Trial counsel on behalf of a Fortune 50 computer company in a trade secrets and unfair competition jury trial in New Orleans. The plaintiffs sought more than $5 billion in damages, and after a seven-week trial, the jury rejected the trade secrets and punitive damages claims, awarding the plaintiffs less than 0.2 percent of claimed damages.
• Trial counsel in a plaintiff’s case on behalf of an affiliate of the fifth-largest commercial bank in the U.S. in a jury trial in Atlanta asserting contract and equitable claims. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the bank on all claims, awarding the bank a seven-figure judgment, plus attorneys’ fees.
• Trial counsel in a plaintiff’s case for a medical technology company in a jury trial in a patent case in North Carolina, securing an eight-figure settlement from one defendant before the trial and receiving a winning verdict against the remaining defendants at the trial.
• Trial counsel to a multinational chemical company in a two-week state-court trial regarding alleged misappropriation of trade secrets. The case settled favorably following trial.
• Trial counsel for a municipality and individual defendants in a bid-rigging federal-court jury trial. Before trial, obtained appellate reversal of the trial court’s denial of individual defendants’ motions for summary judgment. The appellate court similarly reversed the adverse jury verdict and directed judgment in favor of the defendants.

Chris Riley is co-chair of the Financial Services Litigation Group and a trial lawyer who has represented clients in a wide assortment of litigation in state and federal courts across the country. Those clients include national, regional, and community banks, mortgage banks and servicers, RMBS and CMBS trustees and master servicers, commercial lenders, payment card issuers and payment solutions providers, and other commercial and consumer finance companies. This work has involved trials, appeals, arbitrations, and pre-litigation counseling matters involving a mix of commercial, consumer, and real-estate-related disputes, as well as individual and class actions. Chris also has experience representing clients before state and federal regulatory agencies. In addition to his financial services practice, Chris has frequently represented a variety of Fortune 500 companies in diverse commercial litigation matters. Chris has been recognized as a leading lawyer in banking and finance litigation by The Best Lawyers in America©.

Bar Admissions

• Florida
• Georgia

Education

• Vanderbilt University (J.D., 1998)
• Florida State University (B.S., 1995)