Do banks, those powerful and wise institutions, sometimes behave like bullies? While quite a few borrowers would say yes, U.S. banks have long seemed virtually immune to retaliation for heavy-handed tactics. Now, however, hundreds of borrowers are taking their lenders to court and winning.
Consider the case of Garth Conlan, a vegetable and strawberry grower in Castroville, Calif., who walked into a Wells Fargo branch in 1981 to borrow $3 million. The bankers, eager for business, approved the loan in 48 hours, Conlan's attorneys say. Yet two years later, when Wells Fargo decided that losses from Conlan's 1,505-acre farm exceeded the...