Overview 
During the current uncertain economic times, financial institutions face an increasingly challenging operating environment as a result of lawsuits and regulatory actions. Although a dramatic reversal of recent fortunes, such shocks are not without precedent. The massive wave of Texas bank failures in the 1980s and the S&L crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s resulted widespread litigation.

Actively engaged in counseling clients during previous economic downturns, V&E has built a successful track record of representing financial institutions and their directors and officers. Already V&E is at the forefront of litigation and regulatory proceedings against banks, hedge funds, and insurance companies arising out of the financial institution crisis of 2008.

With over 25 years of experience, V&E’s Financial Institution Litigation practice has the knowledge and experience to counsel financial institutions and their directors and officers through the current challenges. To date, we have represented over 100 directors and officers of major financial institutions in some of the most significant litigation and regulatory actions in the nation. V&E has also counseled equity and asset investors in connection with purchases of securities debt and assets of troubled financial institutions.

Scope of Practice
V&E 's experience with financial institutions litigation stretches back as early as July 1982 when the firm first represented 12 former directors of the Penn Square Bank, a small Oklahoma City energy lender. Over the course of three years and 12 lawsuits, the engagement was successfully completed. However, the challenges for financial institutions were just beginning.

During the next seven years, the collapse of the energy and real estate sectors of the economy caused the failure of almost every major bank and savings and loan in Texas. These failures spawned hundreds of suits, which lasted well into the 1990s, against banks and savings and loans (S&Ls) and their officers and directors by government agencies, such as the SEC, FBI, FDIC and Comptroller of the Currency, and shareholders, borrowers, lessors, and bankruptcy trustees. V&E also litigated issues arising out of the asset purchases made during that period.

Our lawyers were active throughout that difficult time, assisting the officers and directors of MCorp, First Republic Bank, First National Bank of Midland, Commonwealth Savings,  University Savings, and First City Bank. V&E built up a substantial base of knowledge and experience on the fiduciary duties of officers and directors of financial institutions, as well as of banking operations. For example, to defend a bank officer charged with negligent mismanagement (the typical FDIC or shareholder derivative claim), the trial lawyer has to understand loan loss reserves, purchase accounting, lending limits to a single borrower, and more.

In addition to defending suits against financial institution officers and directors for alleged breaches of their fiduciary duties and violation of banking laws and regulations, V&E has represented banks in scores of "lender liability" cases. Businesses unable to repay their loans sometimes sue their bankers alleging improper conduct in connection with a loan. V&E's Washington, DC, office represented a local bank in a series of cases involving defaulted loans. The bank brought collection actions and the defendants responded with a raft of lender liability claims. We successfully defended against these claims, obtaining summary judgment or consent judgments on most of them.

V&E also represented financial institutions in recovering damages in connection with the government's purchase of failed S&Ls. A team of lawyers from Houston and Washington tried two "Winstar" cases for six weeks in the Court of Federal Claims. Our client alleged that it was damaged by the government’s breach of an assistance agreement in connection with the purchase of a failed Houston S&L from the government. The courts found in favor of our clients and awarded millions of dollars in damages.