Calif. Federal Judge Dismisses Agents’ PPP Loan Fee Action with Leave to Amend

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge has dismissed without prejudice a lawsuit in which agents who aided small businesses in filing applications for loans under the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program accuse banks of reneging on their promise to pay nearly $4 million in fees.

In a Nov. 16 order, Judge Otis D. Wright II of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California concluded that the plaintiffs lack Article III standing because they failed to identify a PPP loan application with which they assisted and the defendant banks approved.

The judge further ruled that the …