The headline-grabbing aspect of Credit Suisse AG v. Claymore Holdings LLC is its reversal of a large award of rescission damages, but that holding should not obscure its affirmance of a fraudulent-inducement verdict and judgment: “The fact that certain irregularities might have been gleaned from a close examination of the 200-page Appraisal and its supporting documentation does not eviscerate the jury’s finding that Credit Suisse had superior knowledge of the material facts. The central failure of the Appraisal was that it did not provide an independent, objective, as-is fair market value as required by FIRREA. The falsity of Credit Suisse’s misrepresentation to the contrary was not apparent from the document itself. The intentional misstatement of compliance with FIRREA and the attendant overstatement of the fair market value of the collateral was not discoverable to Claymore ‘by the exercise of ordinary intelligence.’ In sum, given the jury finding of its superior knowledge, Credit Suisse cannot rely on the contractual disclaimers to defeat liability for fraudulent inducement.“ No. 18-0403 (April 24, 2020) (citation omitted).
