Washington Mutual Bank v. Superior Court

I. Introduction

Petitioners Washington Mutual Bank, FA, Washington Mutual Bank, FA, as successor in interest to Great Western Bank, F.S.B., and Washington Mutual Bank, FA, formerly known as American Savings Bank, FA (petitioners) petitioned this court for a writ of mandate to vacate and set aside the ruling of respondent Los Angeles Superior Court overruling a demurrer petitioners had filed to the second amended class action complaint filed by plaintiffs and real parties in interest Paul E. Brown et al. (plaintiffs) as individuals and on behalf of all others similarly situated, insofar as the demurrer asserted that the doctrine of express federal preemption prevented plaintiffs from pursuing private state law claims based on alleged violations of a federal disclosure law where the federal law did not provide a private right of action. The federal law at issue is the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 (RESPA), as amended, 12 United States Code section 2601 et seq., and Regulation X to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ( 24 C.F.R. § 3500.1 et seq. (1999), as amended) (Regulation X) which regulates the settlement process for certain residential real…