First American Financial Corporation v. Edwards

Case Updates

The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed this case as improvidently granted. As a result, the lower court’s decision will stand.

The U.S. Chamber urged the U.S. Supreme Court to re-affirm the fundamental constitutional requirement that plaintiffs must demonstrate a concrete injury for a federal court to hear a case. In its amicus brief, the Chamber warned that if the Ninth Circuit’s decision – which allowed homebuyers to sue financial institutions for alleged violations of the anti-kickback provision of the federal Real Estate Settlement Services Act (“RESPA”), even though they failed to demonstrate any harm from the statutory violation – is left to stand, courts will be flooded with sham lawsuits where the plaintiffs have not suffered any real injury. A mere assertion of a statutory violation is itself insufficient to establish standing, the Chamber argued. Rather, courts must conduct an independent judicial determination of whether the plaintiff has suffered a concrete injury in fact. The Chamber warned that by conflating ‘statutory standing’ with ‘constitutional standing,’ the Ninth Circuit has relinquished to the Legislature the Judiciary’s power and duty to determine whether a “case or controversy” exists and may be heard by the courts.