The National Fair Housing Alliance and the Tennessee Fair Housing Council filed a class action complaint against the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and HUD Secretary Scott Turner claiming the department is unlawfully refusing to administer Fair Housing Initiatives Program funding.
Real estate brokerage Compass filed suit against Zillow Group Inc. and Trulia, LLC, over Zillow’s recent policy that bans private listings. Compass accused Zillow of relying on “anticompetitive tactics to protect its monopoly and revenues in violation of the antitrust laws.”
An Illinois federal judge denied a motion filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Chicago mortgage broker Townstone Financial to vacate the settlement the two parties reached to resolve allegations of redlining against Townstone.
After a bank purchased property in a nonjudicial foreclosure and sued to eject a couple from the property, the trustee of the property filed a counterclaim accusing the bank of RESPA and Truth in Lending Act violations, among other things. A circuit court granted the bank’s motions for ejectment and to dismiss several counts of the counterclaim. The defendant appealed, and the appeals court vacated the judgments.
A borrower who was added to a mortgage held by her husband sued several mortgage servicers, claiming they violated RESPA and breached a contract when they failed to honor a loan assumption and modification agreement after her husband’s passing.
A new set of predatory lending allegations have been brought against Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance, Inc., months after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped similar charges against the Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary.
A borrower accused two mortgage servicers of violating RESPA by failing to respond to her qualified written requests for information related to her mortgage loan account, specifically regarding charges and fees added to her balance following a loan modification agreement. The servicers moved to dismiss.
The brokerage Compass filed suit against the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) in Seattle, calling it a “monopolist” and claiming its listing rules are anticompetitive and restrict consumer choice and broker competition, in violation of antitrust laws.
Another chapter was written in the ongoing legal saga concerning the embattled Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Shortly after a federal court partially lifted a court order preventing mass firings at the bureau, the Trump administration resumed its plans to gut the agency, prompting the courts to intervene again.
When a homeowner’s house caught fire and his insurer denied the claim because the policy had lapsed, he blamed the lapse on his mortgage servicer and accused it of failing to re-up his coverage. He sued the servicer for mismanaging his escrow account in violation of RESPA. The servicer moved for summary judgment.
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