Thomas Cunningham is a partner in the firm’s litigation department and the leader of the firm’s Class Action Practice Group. He focuses his practice on the representation of banks and financial institutions in both state and federal courts. Mr. Cunningham frequently engages in consumer protection litigation and litigation involving fraud, fraudulent transfers, and bankruptcy litigation. He has successfully tried a number of cases and has argued on numerous occasions before the Illinois Appellate Court and United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Bank and Financial Institution Litigation
Mr. Cunningham handles a wide variety of general litigation matters for our bank and financial institution clients. He is well-versed in the laws and regulations that govern those clients, including the Uniform Commercial Code, the Bankruptcy Code, the Truth-In-Lending Act, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and other consumer protection statutes. Mr. Cunningham regularly advises the firm’s bank clients on matters involving potential liability and has successfully tried a number of lender liability cases including claims against banks and financial institutions.
Consumer Finance Class Action Defense
A significant portion of Mr. Cunningham’s practice is devoted to defending consumer lenders against class actions and individual actions brought pursuant to a variety of state and federal consumer protection statutes, including the Truth in Lending Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, various state consumer fraud acts, and other statutes. Mr. Cunningham has successfully defended banks and financial institutions in several national class action cases.
Mortgage Industry Litigation
In addition to the defense of consumer finance cases, Mr. Cunningham has also represented some of the top residential mortgage lenders in the United States in a variety of other types of litigation, including the defense of actions involving warehouse lines of credit and the prosecution of several massive “mortgage flipping” schemes in Chicago and Atlanta. Mr. Cunningham routinely handles virtually all varieties of litigation involving the firm’s mortgage industry clients.
Commercial Loan Workout
Mr. Cunningham has significant experience in handling asset-based and real estate loan workouts for a number of banks and financial institutions. He assists clients in negotiating forbearance agreements, loan restructuring, liquidations including sales pursuant to the Uniform Commercial Code, and assignments for the benefit of creditors. When necessary, Mr. Cunningham enforces loan agreements through foreclosure and injunction proceedings. Mr. Cunningham has successfully prosecuted numerous cases involving fraud and fraudulent transfers as part of commercial loan workouts.
Bankruptcy Litigation
Often a loan workout will lead to a bankruptcy. Mr. Cunningham is a former employee of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois and judicial extern to a former Chief Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He frequently negotiates cash collateral orders and represents banks and other financial institutions in actions to modify the automatic stay and claim objection litigation. Mr. Cunningham has also handled a number of adversary proceedings to determine dischargeability of debt or to deny a debtor a discharge, particularly in cases involving fraud. In addition, Mr. Cunningham has defended many clients against bankruptcy preference claims.
Education
- J.D., DePaul University College of Law, 1993
- B.S., Arizona State University, 1989
Bar Admissions
Admitted To Practice
- Supreme Court of Illinois, 1993
- U.S. Supreme Court, 1996
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 1993
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2008
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois Trial Bar, 1996
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, 1996
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 1993
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Trial Bar, 1997
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, 2003
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, 2002
Publications & Presentations
Mr. Cunningham has published an extensive number of articles in law reviews and other publications. He has also published chapters on commercial and consumer lender liability in two books. Mr. Cunningham is one of the co-editors of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell’s Banking & Bankruptcy Law newsletter. He is a former editor-in-chief of the Chicago Bar Association’s Young Lawyer’s Journal, a position he held for two years. Also, he served on the Executive Committee of the Young Lawyer’s Section of the Chicago Bar Association. He has chaired various committees of the Chicago Bar Association’s Young Lawyer’s Section and has given presentations at Chicago Bar Association seminars.
- Client Alert: Seventh Circuit Joins First and Fifth Circuits in Rejecting TILA Rescission Class Actions, September 25, 2008
- Client Alert: Federal Reserve Board Adopts Significant Revisions to Regulation Z, July 24, 2008
- Client Alert: Second Circuit, in Case of First Impression, Interprets Class Action Fairness Act to Provide Federal Jurisdiction for State Law Consumer Fraud Action Not Involving Nationally Traded Securities, May 19, 2008
- Client Alert: Seventh Circuit Limits Its Holding In Cole v. U.S. Capital And Clarifies The Requirements For Making Firm Offers Of Credit Under The Fair Credit Reporting Act, April 16, 2008
- Client Alert: Insufficient Documentation Of Securitized Mortgages Results In Dismissal, December 5, 2007
- Co-Author, “Clamping Down on Brokers: Critics Claim the New Illinois Predatory Lending Database Pilot to be Unfair and Unnecessary,” BROKER pg, 52 (October/November 2005).
- Co-Author, “Illinois Supreme Court Settles Legality of Document Preparation Fees for Mortgage Lenders in Illinois,” 21 Real Estate Fin. J. 73 (Fall 2005).
- Co-Author, “Cook County Lending Database Pilot Greatly Expands Mortgage Regulation,” National Mortgage News (September 2005).
- Co-Author, “Illinois Enacts High Risk Home Loan Act Imposing Significant New Obligations Upon Lenders and Servicers Who Do Business in Illinois,” 121 The Banking Law Journal 166 (2004).
- Author, “Lending to Lawyers,” The Secured Lender pg. 30 (January/February 2004).
- Author, “Class Actions in Arbitration,” Illinois Bar Journal, Vol. 92, No. 10, p. 532 (October 2004).
- Co-Author, “Lender Liability in Commercial and Consumer Contexts,” in Advising Illinois Financial Institutions (IICLE 2002).
- Co-Author, “Lender Liability and Equitable Subordination,” in Secured Transactions (IICLE 2001).
- Author, “The Amended Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act: Further Concealment of a Lien Already Nearly Invisible,”116 Banking L.J. 253 (1999).
- Author, “Orphans of the Economic Loss Doctrine: Tort Liability of Information Providers and the Preclusion of Comparative Negligence,” 8 DePaul Bus. L.J. 41 (1995).
- Author, “Perils of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act: Ambushed by the Turnip Man!,” 27 UCC L.J. 139 (1994).
- Author, “The Discharge of an Innocent Partner,” 99 Commercial L.J. 157 (1994).
- Author, “Inventory Financer vs. Supplier: Protecting Priority in Goods in Transit,” UCC Bulletin 1 (November 1993).
- Co-Author, “Reducing Excessive and Unjustified Lender Liability Damage Awards,” 98 Dick. L. Rev. 25 (1993).
- Co-Author, “The Banker As Inadvertent Fiduciary: Beware A Borrower’s Special Trust & Confidence,” 98 Commercial L.J. 277 (1993).
- Co-Author, “A Lender’s Liability For Agent Misdeeds,” 33 Santa Clara L. Rev. 811 (1993).
- Author, “Recoverability of Tariff Undercharges By A Trustee in Bankruptcy,” 5 DePaul Bus. L.J. 313 (1993).
- Author, “Payments on Secured Debt After Filing for Bankruptcy: Ipso Facto Clauses and Their Relation to Reaffirmation Agreements,” 20 Calif. Bankr. J. 213 (1992).
- Co-Author, “Admission of Business Records into Evidence: Using the Business Records Exception and Other Techniques,” 30 Duquesne L. Rev. 205 (1992), reprinted in, 41 Def. L.J. 677 (1992).
- Author, “The Thievery of Undersecured Obligations Through the Strip-Down Power of 11 U.S.C. Section 506,” 4 DePaul Bus. L.J. 149 (1991).
Professional History
Partner in the law firm of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP
Professional Affiliations
Member, American Bar Association
Community Leadership
President, Downers Grove Grade School District 58 Board of Education
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