Judge Jesse Furman
BPP Illinois LLC and its affiliates (BPP Plaintiffs) are Pennsylvania residents. Together with FFC Partnership LP and its affiliates, and Budget Portfolio Properties LLC (Equity Plaintiff), the BPP Plaintiffs charged Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS), RBS Citizens NA and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania with fraud, fraudulent inducement and breach of fiduciary duty for allegedly manipulating the U.S. Dollar London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). Suit was grounded on Citizens Bank’s $66 million loan to the BPP Plaintiffs and an accompanying interest rate swap structured by RBS Citizens. The loan’s interest rate was tied to LIBOR. District court dismissed suit, finding that the claims by the FFC and Equity Plaintiffs were not pleaded with the “particularity” required by Rule 9(b). Moreover, the BPP Plaintiffs’ Dec. 12, 2012, complaint was untimely under Pennsylvania’s two-year statute of limitations. “Storm warnings” impugning LIBOR’s accuracy began appearing in the national media—including but not limited to the “Wall Street Journal,” “Financial Times”and “Bloomberg”—by April 2008. Through reasonable diligence the BPP Plaintiffs could have known of their injury—and the cause therefor—by May 29, 2008.
