The court's denial of BAC's Daubert motions on plaintiffs' core damages model keeps the case on a path toward trial or a potentially large settlement. Monitor for any settlement announcements or trial date setting. The consent orders and remediation plan already in place suggest BAC has acknowledged some liability, but the class action damages could be substantially larger than the remediation amounts.
Price Chart
Executive Summary
Three Daubert rulings in the multi-district class action over Bank of America's handling of California unemployment benefits during COVID-19. The court granted BAC's motion to exclude plaintiffs' expert Stango's offset opinions, partially granted BAC's motion to exclude Cloninger's foreseeability opinions, and largely denied BAC's motion to exclude Regan, East, and Levine's damages methodologies. The rulings keep the case on track for trial with plaintiffs' core damages model intact, representing a net negative for BAC as the case survives with a viable class-wide damages framework.
Court Ruling Details
Key Facts
- The court excluded BAC's expert Stango's opinions on offsetting damages, preserving plaintiffs' theory that principal amounts denied/rescinded/frozen constitute actual damages before trebling.
- The court denied BAC's motion to exclude plaintiffs' damages expert Regan's methodology except for one alternative interest-rate approach (Methodology 2).
- The court denied BAC's motions to exclude plaintiffs' economists East and Levine, allowing their testimony on compound interest rates (20.8% and 15.9%) as measures of lost time value of money.
- The court partially granted BAC's motion to exclude Cloninger's foreseeability opinions but allowed her core causation and feasibility opinions on EMV chip technology.
- Five classes were certified in June 2025: Claim Denial, Credit Rescission, Account Freeze, Customer Service, and EMV Chip classes.
- The CFPB and OCC entered consent orders with BAC in July 2022 related to the same CFF-1 conduct, and BAC implemented a Remediation Plan.
- No damages amount is stated in these rulings; the opinion references that BAC has already paid all class members the funds taken or withheld.
Financial Impact
No dollar amount stated in the rulings. The case involves potentially material exposure given five certified classes of California EDD cardholders, but the opinion does not quantify total damages sought or awarded.
Risk Factors
- Potential for a large damages award or settlement given five certified classes and plaintiffs' damages model surviving Daubert challenge.
- Adverse jury verdict on EFTA, CCPA, UCL, negligence, and breach of contract claims could result in treble damages and disgorgement of profits.
- Ongoing litigation overhang may pressure BAC stock relative to peers.
Market Snapshot
Investment Themes
Documents Analyzed
This report is based on 3 court opinions from CourtListener.
| Document | Accession Number |
|---|---|
| COURT-RULING Data (Synthetic) | court-63c03c4f31-BAC |
| COURT-RULING Data (Synthetic) | court-e9ea526d50-BAC |
| COURT-RULING Data (Synthetic) | court-5ddbbdaa93-BAC |
Filters
| Type | Now | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oct 15, 2026 4d ago | ANALYST-UPGRADE | — | awaiting T+20 | — | — |
Sep 9, 2026 5w ago | Court Ruling | $62.67 $53.52 | ▼ −14.60% | ▼ −16.54% | $51.23 (−18.25%) |
Sep 3, 2026 6w ago | Court Ruling | $63.04 $53.75 | ▼ −14.74% | ▼ −13.55% | $51.23 (−18.73%) |
Sep 3, 2026 6w ago | Court Ruling | $63.04 $53.75 | ▼ −14.74% | ▼ −13.55% | $51.23 (−18.73%) |
Sep 2, 2026 6w ago | Court Ruling | $62.60 $54.43 | ▼ −13.05% | ▼ −12.72% | $51.23 (−18.16%) |
Aug 26, 2026 7w ago | Court Ruling | $62.23 $56.03 | ▼ −9.96% | ▼ −10.11% | $51.23 (−17.68%) |
Aug 20, 2026 8w ago | Court Ruling | $61.86 $57.73 | ▼ −6.68% | ▼ −6.68% | $51.23 (−17.18%) |
Aug 18, 2026 8w ago | Court Ruling | $64.23 $57.90 | ▲ +9.86% | ▲ +8.54% | $51.23 (+20.24%) |
Aug 18, 2026 8w ago | Court Ruling | $64.23 $57.90 | ▼ −9.86% | ▼ −8.54% | $51.23 (−20.24%) |
Aug 14, 2026 9w ago | 13F-HR | $64.49 $59.47 | ▼ −7.78% | ▼ −5.79% | $51.23 (−20.56%) |
US Market Status
Subscribe to SecBot
Get Real-Time Court Ruling Intelligence
Market-moving court rulings analyzed within minutes. Patent verdicts, antitrust decisions, class certifications, and more — parsed and scored by AI.
Try SecBot Free Coming soon: SecBot Pro with alerts, watchlists, and API access