Delayed lawsuits against U.S. Bank could see new life after court rulings

A Philadelphia businessman has won a series of court rulings that could clear the way for long-delayed lawsuits seeking more than $70 million against U.S. Bank, which he claims destroyed his company in a dispute over unpaid loans.

The cases involve as much as $12 million that businessman Maury Rosenberg owed the bank, which through an affiliate loaned money to his company, National Medical Imaging (NMI). Rosenberg's son, Doug, said they do not dispute these were legitimate debts.

But Doug Rosenberg said the bank lost its ability to collect on those debts when it pushed his family's business empire into involuntary bankruptcy proceedings in 2008. A Florida judge dismissed those proceedings and in 2013 a jury awarded Rosenberg $6.1 million, finding that the bank and its affiliates had acted in "bad faith."

While that award was later reduced to $360,000, a Florida judge last week reinstated the entire award, including $5 million in punitive damages.

Doug Rosenberg said the dispute could have been avoided if U.S. Bank and its affiliates had accepted his father's offer to restructure his loans.

"He just wanted more time to pay back the money," Doug Rosenberg said. "But U.S. Bank made it impossible to pay them — and they destroyed everything we owned in the meantime."

The family expects U.S. Bank to appeal the most recent court rulings, as it has following previous rulings against the company. Rosenberg said U.S. Bank has yet to make a serious settlement offer.

"We are considering all of our legal options as it relates to the Rosenberg matter, including a potential appeal," U.S. Bank spokesman Dana Ripley said in a statement. Ripley added: "Our customers, employees, and shareholders expect us to defend the best interests of the company."

The cases revolve around loans to NMI, which at its peak operated 23 outpatient radiology screening centers, employed 150 people and posted annual revenue of $72 million.

Rosenberg's company leased equipment from several entities, including a company that later became part of U.S. Bank. After U.S. Bank rejected Rosenberg's request to restructure his agreements, the company forced him into bankruptcy. He wound up closing NMI. Another casualty of the legal battle was a $50 million trust fund he created for Doug.

Last year, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision of a Florida judge and allowed the trustee of the fund to move forward with a lawsuit against U.S. Bank. Altogether, the family is seeking more than $70 million in damages in two pending cases against the bank, Doug Rosenberg said.

"The $70 million that Mr. Rosenberg claims to seek from U.S. Bank is fictitious," Ripley said in a statement. "U.S. Bank has prevailed in two other related lawsuits against Mr. Rosenberg and his main company, NMI, obtaining judgments totaling more than $18 million. In both instances, the judgments require that Mr. Rosenberg and his company pay the amounts to U.S. Bank – and in both cases he and his company have failed to do so."

W. Barry Blum, a Florida attorney representing the Rosenbergs, said the bank can't use those awards to avoid its legal obligations in Florida. So far, he noted, judges have forced U.S. Bank to pay more than $1.6 million in legal fees racked up by the Rosenberg family in the protracted legal battle, and an additional $2.8 million in fee requests are pending.

Jeffrey Meitrodt • 612-673-4132