Courts Stories | Housing Affairs Letter

Disparate Impact Faces Major Test

A lawsuit filed by the city of Miami against Bank of America accuses the bank of awarding bum home loans that led to foreclosures and additional urban blight which cut into city tax revenues. Miami says the bank is responsible for the blight and should pay for restoration.

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Ethnicity No Factor In Injury Damages

A person’s ethnic background can’t be applied when considering damage amounts for injuries, a New York federal judge rules.

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Quicken Gets Upper Hand In Justice Fight

Michigan-based Quicken Loans is told by a federal judge that the mortgage giant’s lawsuit against the Justice Department (DOJ) will be heard before the government’s countersuit is heard in a separate court. Quicken is the first lender to challenge the government over its

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Disparate Impact’s Future Tested

U.S. Supreme Court justices give little indication how they will come down on the theory of “disparate impact,” a concept used primarily by the Justice Department and HUD to prove legal culpability for discrimination resulting from an activity that on its face has no hint of bias or intent

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High Court Slams Lenders On TILA

Homeowners now have the upper hand when they decide to back out of mortgages after lenders are accused of failing to adhere to the federal 1968 Truth in Lending Act (TILA).

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Legal Briefs Hit Disparate Impact Thrust

Setting the stage for a trenchant test of the Fair Housing Act (FHA), Mount Holly Township, NJ accuses the Obama administration of grossly misinterpreting the law in a 48-page brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court will hear arguments in October on the “disparate impact’ theory and the Justice Department (DOJ) and HUD’s

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Fannie, Freddie Tax Case Dismissed

A lawsuit filed last June in Central Florida against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac claiming the two federally-chartered lenders improperly skipped tax payments on real estate transfers has been dismissed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

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Federal Court Blocks MERS Lawsuit

In another decision affecting county mortgage recording fees, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas rules that individual homeowners do not have standing to sue Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems over the fees.

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Feds Sue BofA Over $1B Of Bum Loans

Federal prosecutors sue the Bank of America alleging mortgage fraud in the bank’s handling of defective mortgages sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by subsidiary Countrywide Financial Corp.

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Hundreds Charged In Mortgage Scams

Foreclosure rescue scams result in charges against 530 accused con artists by the Justice Department and the FBI. The scams resulted in $1 billion in losses. The Distressed Homeowner Initiative, a part of the Financial Fraud Task Force, combined the resources of Justice, FBI, HUD and the Federal Trade Commission to conduct the investigation.

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