JPMorgan Chase & Co. lost a bid to throw out a lawsuit by the California attorney general alleging that the largest U.S. bank by assets illegally tried to collect debt from about 100,000 credit-card borrowers, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. California Superior Court Judge Jane L. Johnson in Los Angeles on Monday rejected the bank’s argument that the attorney general’s unfair competition claims were precluded by California legal authority. California Attorney General Kamala Harris sued New York-based JPMorgan in May, alleging that the bank’s Chase unit engaged in “wide-spread and illegal robo-signing” and other unlawful practices against credit-card borrowers. Chase used the judicial system as a mill to obtain default judgments, according to the attorney general.
