On December 20, 2013, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”), as conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, announced that it will receive settlement payments of $1.925 billion from Deutsche Bank AG in connection with...more
It looks like yet another illegal kickback scheme involving mortgage insurance has been uncovered in the residential mortgage industry. Recently the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) filed a lawsuit in the U.S....more
With the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) signaling its increased attention to workers' exposure to crystalline silica, and the plaintiffs' bar evidently in search of new subjects for "toxic tort" claims,...more
12/12/2013
/ Class Action ,
Construction Workers ,
Contractors ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Land Developers ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
OSHA ,
Safety Precautions ,
Silica ,
Subcontractors ,
Toxic Exposure
Add yet another major settlement to the still-growing list of huge payouts by the nation’s largest banks to settle claims over toxic mortgage-backed securities. Bank of America has now agreed to pay $404 million to Freddie...more
On Tuesday, the United States Justice Department announced that it finalized a settlement agreement with JPMorgan Chase for $13 billion. This settlement will resolve a multitude of state and federal investigations into...more
Late last month, we commented on JP Morgan Chase’s $5.1 billion settlement with the Fair Housing Financing Agency (FHFA), as conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Wall Street Journal has since reported that JP Morgan...more
Add another mega-settlement to the rapidly growing list of huge payouts by the nation’s largest banks to federal agencies. Wells Fargo reportedly has now agreed to pay the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which oversees...more
On October 25, 2013, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”), as conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, announced that it will receive settlement payments of $5.1 billion with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in connection...more
A federal jury ruled yesterday that Countrywide, now owned by Bank of America, defrauded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by selling them defective mortgages in advance of the great financial crisis of 2008. A former Countrywide...more
The federal government shut down at the stroke of midnight on September 30th as the Congress failed to pass a bill to continue funding the government. The repercussions are many, including preventing 800,000 Americans from...more
Sunday, September 15, 2013, marked the fifth anniversary of Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, the largest in U.S. history. It is widely believed that Lehman’s meltdown set off a domino effect that led to the global financial...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), the financial watchdog agency created following the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices in the financial products and...more
An order yesterday by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in New York clears the way for a trial on September 23 in a government lawsuit accusing Bank of America Corp. of fraud in the sale of billions of dollars of toxic mortgage...more
In an opinion refusing to dismiss a lawsuit by several RMBS mortgage trusts in connection with $1.6 billion of mortgage loans, Judge Harold Baer, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, held that...more
Stop me if you have heard something like this before. The Department of Justice announced a civil lawsuit on Tuesday alleging that Bank of America defrauded buyers of mortgage-backed securities by lying about the quality of...more
Fall-out from the subprime and Alt-A mortgage crisis continued recently with court approval of a multi-million dollar settlement of a lawsuit filed against former top officers of what had been one of the country’s leading...more
Fall-out from the subprime and Alt-A mortgage crisis continued recently with court approval of a multi-million dollar settlement of a lawsuit filed against former top officers of what had been one of the country’s leading...more
While mortgage interest rates have repeatedly hit new lows over the past few years helping to spur a recovery in the housing sector, recent comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke could signal that those days are coming...more
Earlier this year, a United States District Court judge for the Southern District of Florida (Judge James Lawrence King) severed and dismissed 7 out of 8 mortgage repurchase claims filed by Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc....more
Freddie Mac has announced the immediate implementation of its Streamlined Modification program, a no-document modification program offered to severely delinquent borrowers. The implementation of the program, originally set to...more
Bank of America has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by investors who claimed they were misled by its Countrywide unit into buying risky mortgage securities. Bank of America acquired Countrywide Financial, a...more
According to a report released Tuesday by Fannie Mae, the big banks who love to act like “injured innocents” when it comes to making mortgage repurchase and indemnification demands on loan originators had their own...more
Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a civil suit in the Central District of California against Standard & Poor’s Financial Services (S&P) and its parent company McGraw-Hill. The suit alleges that S&P engaged in a...more
The legal press is abuzz with reports of a New York federal judge’s award of a $90.1 million judgment to mortgage insurer Assured Guaranty Corp. after a lengthy trial in its suit against Flagstar Bank FSB....more
There was a very favorable development recently in one of my buyback cases. The federal district court in Miami issued a final order that has great potential application to other buyback suits, whether already pending or...more