In Baez v. Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC, 16-17292, 2017 WL 4220292 (11th Cir. Sept. 22, 2017) the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal recognized a limit to the requirement to the phrase "actual damages" in Section 2605 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ("RESPA")
The facts of the case were as follows: Counsel for Baez sent Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC a request for information pursuant to Regulation X and RESPA seeking certain information. Allegedly, the response Baez received did not satisfy the requirements of Regulation X and RESPA so Baez sued for actual damages. The ...
In Russell v. Nationstar Mortgage, LLC, No. 14-61977-CIV, 2015 WL 5029346, at 5 (S.D. Fla. Aug. 26, 2015), United States District Court Judge Beth Bloom issued litigious borrowers their latest setback in a large scale litigation campaign being conducted by a South Florida consumer law firm. The case is one of many filed by Loan Lawyers, LCC, on behalf of their clients alleging violations of regulations promulgated pursuant to Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) known as Regulation X (Reg X). Many of the cases have the same facts: Loan Lawyers sends a letter requesting a ...
In Roth v. CitiMortgage Inc., 2014 WL 2853549 (2nd Cir. June 24, 2014), the Second Circuit held that although a mortgage had three letters requesting various mortgage related information sent by her lawyer, the mortgagor's RESPA claim was properly dismissed on the basis that her lawyer's letters were not sent to CitiMortgage's designated QWR address. Accordingly, the requests were not QWRs under RESPA and did not trigger CitiMortgage's QWR duties under RESPA. In Roth, Defendant CitiMortgage Inc. serviced a second residential mortgage for Plaintiff Patricia Roth. Roth alleged ...
In Bryan v. Federal National Mortgage Association, 2014 WL 2988097 (M.D. Fla. July 2, 2014), plaintiffs alleged violations of RESPA and the applicable regulations set forth in 24 C.F.R. § 3500 and 12 C.F.R. § 1024.30, et seq. (Regulation X) against Seterus and Fannie Mae, respectively. The facts alleged that Fannie Mae was the "master servicer" of the note and mortgage, and Seterus was the "subservicer" of the note and mortgage. Specifically, plaintiffs alleged that defendants Seterus, and Fannie Mae by the failure of Seterus, failed to take timely action to respond to ...
On July 10, 2013, the CFPB issued mortgage rules under Regulation Z and Regulation X pursuant to its authority under the Dodd-Frank Act. The CFPB further amended the mortgage rules on September 15, 2013 and October 1, 2013. The result is a super regulation which keeps the original framework of Regulations X and Z, but adds entirely new provisions addressing eight major topics. In this article, David A. Elliott, Nicholas S. Agnello and Seth I. Muse discuss the new regulations and the possible effect on mortgage litigation. You can find a copy of the article by clicking here. For more ...
In Schneider v. Bank of Am. N.A., No. 2:11-CV-2953-LKK-EFB PS, 2013 WL 1281902 ( E.D. Cal. Mar. 26, 2013), the Eastern District of California dismissed a Plaintiff's claims under the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act ("RESPA"), holding that the 10-day QWR response deadline provided in the amended version of RESPA does not apply to QWRs submitted prior to the amendment's effective date. Plaintiff Christopher Schneider ("Plaintiff") sought a temporary restraining order enjoining Defendants Bank of America, N.A., BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP, and Quality Loan Service ...
In Riddle v. Bank of America Corp., et al., 2013 WL 1482668 (E.D. Pa. Apr. 11, 2013), the federal district court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania held plaintiffs' allegation that the defendants actively concealed a reinsurance kickback scheme was sufficient to equitably toll the running of RESPA's one-year statute of limitations and, as such, that plaintiffs' RESPA claim could survive dismissal.
The plaintiffs filed a putative RESPA class action suit against Bank of America and various mortgage insurers claiming that the defendants engaged in an illegal scheme whereby ...
John Chiles and Zachary Miller were recently published in the American Bar Association's The Business Lawyer (Vol. 68, No. 2) with an article entitled: The Supreme Court Settles a Decade-Long Debate -- 2012 Survey of RESPA Developments. The article highlights important decisions issued by U.S. federal courts addressing the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ("RESPA") during 2012. Of particular importance is the Supreme Court's decision in Freeman v. Quicken Loans, Inc., 132 S.Ct. 2034, --- U.S. ---- (2012), in which the Court unanimously settled a long-standing split in ...
The Tenth Circuit issued an opinion last week in Berneike v. CitiMortgage, Inc., 2013 WL 657032 (10th Cir. Feb. 25, 2013), addressing whether a district court properly dismissed a borrower's Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ("RESPA") claim against CitiMortgage, Inc. ("Citi"). The subject complaint alleged that CitiMortgage, by failing to respond to multiple qualified written requests ("QWRs"), violated RESPA. On three different occasions in early 2010, the borrower sent a barrage of faxes to Citi, each alleging that Citi was improperly servicing the borrower's ...