G. Christopher Olson - Raleigh, NC

Overview

Chris was a part of the Martin & Jones team that successfully litigated predatory lending consumer class actions against Bank of America and CitiFinancial. The class action lawsuits were extensively litigated throughout the state and federal courts of North Carolina. Both cases were argued before the North Carolina Supreme Court and resulted in important legal precedents that will benefit North Carolina consumers for years to come. The suits involved unlawful sales of credit insurance products to subprime borrowers and allegations of predatory lending.

Consumer Class Action Work
The Tillman v. CitiFinancial Services, Inc. case was settled for $42.5 million. Through the settlement of the Tillman case, some 10,000 North Carolina borrowers received settlement payments. The case was litigated throughout the state and federal courts of North Carolina and resulted in a landmark ruling by the North Carolina Supreme Court in 2008. In Tillman v. Commercial Credit Loans, Inc., 362 N.C. 93 (2008), the North Carolina Supreme Court held that the arbitration clause included in borrowers' loan documents was unenforceable based upon unconscionability. The decision represented the first time an appellate court in the State had struck down an arbitration clause as unenforceable due to unconscionability.

In Richardson v. Bank of America and the companion case of Williams v. EquiCredit Corporation of NC, more than 800 North Carolina subprime borrowers received significant settlement payments. Class members recovered, on average, more than $31,500 each. The Richardson case was argued at the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the North Carolina Supreme Court. In the Court of Appeals' decision, Richardson v. Bank of America, N.A., 182 N.C. App. 531 (2007), the Court of Appeals affirmed trial court rulings that the bank violated the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act and committed a breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing in selling credit insurance products that had not been approved by the Department of Insurance. The North Carolina Supreme Court heard arguments in the case and then decided that review had been improvidently granted, meaning that the Court of Appeals decision remained the law of the case and binding precedent.

Personal Background
Chris has been practicing law with Martin & Jones since 2001. Before joining Martin & Jones, Chris worked for five years at one of the state's largest and most prestigious defense firms. After law school, Chris served as a law clerk to the Honorable Franklin T. Dupree, Jr., a federal court judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He graduated from Campbell University School of Law, magna cum laude, in 1994. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1990. Chris has been recognized by his peers as among the Best Lawyers in America since 2011. Active with state bar and civic functions, Chris also regularly performs pro bono work for underprivileged clients through the Volunteer Lawyer Program of Legal Aid of North Carolina.