J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. dropped more than 1,000 credit card debt-collection lawsuits in a handul of states, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Though the bank would not say how many cases were dismissed or why, state judges told The Journal that cases were dropped in California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York. The bank was owed $45.9 billion on outstanding credit cards—both for current and delinquent accounts—in those states, as of March 31. The average amount sought in credit-card lawsuits is around $1,000, according to the Journal.
Although the bank declined to give a reason for the dismissal, it may have been related to "irregularities" in the paperwork used to file the lawsuits, which could indicate sloppy or fraudulent documentation of debt, The Journal reports. The bank is being scrutinized for possible use of so-called robo-signing, in which employees sign documents—often in large numbers—without reviewing them.
The bank's lawyers asked that they be dismissed without prejudice, which means the bank can refile them later.
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