In its June 14, 2023, decision in United States ex rel. Michelle Calderon v. Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC, No. 22-1553, 2023 WL 3991013, (7th Cir. 2023), the Seventh Circuit explained the high bar for relators to prove...more
On December 20, 2019, the President signed into law House Resolution 1865, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, which is now Public Law 116-94. ...more
On October 28, 2019 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) announcing their joint approach to False Claims Act (FCA)...more
On March 12, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued the Winter 2019 edition of its Supervisory Highlights report, detailing key examination findings that were discovered during the second half of 2018....more
Reverse mortgage lenders received a significant victory in Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal last week when the court issued its decision in OneWest Bank, FSB v. Palmero. After previously ruling in Smith v. Reverse...more
Through its recent en banc decision in PHH Corp. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the D.C. Circuit reinstated the holding of the three-judge panel regarding the safe harbor provision in Section 8(c) of the Real Estate...more
A recent Third Circuit decision offers a cautionary tale for mortgage lenders who provide loan modifications subject to the Homeowners Protection Act. In Fried v. JP Morgan Chase & Co., No. 16-3069 (3d Cir. March 9, 2017),...more
The regulation of federally regulated financial institutions (FRFIs) continued intensifying in 2016 with a new wave of legislative and regulatory initiatives impacting mortgage lending, the bank resolution regime, the life...more
On November 30, 2016, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas announced that a federal jury in the Southern District of Texas issued a verdict finding several related mortgage companies and their CEO liable in...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) Friday filed a petition in the closely-watched PHH case, seeking to undo a ruling by a panel of judges for the D.C. Circuit Court that was highly critical of the Bureau’s...more
On October 11, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, widely regarded as the nation’s second most powerful court, ruled that the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”)...more
On Oct. 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit deemed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) “unconstitutionally structured” and overturned its enforcement action, including a $109 million penalty,...more
On September 7, 2016, the Massachusetts Attorney General announced a settlement with an insurance company requiring “refunds for Massachusetts homeowners whose mortgage lenders wrongly force-placed the consumers with [the...more
On April 12, 2016, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument in PHH Corporation’s (PHH) milestone legal battle with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau). During the argument,...more
In August, the CFPB issued a compliance bulletin to clarify lenders’ obligations to terminate Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) charges under 12 U.S.C. § 4902. One subject that the bulletin did not address—but which is...more
Home equity conversion mortgages, commonly known as “reverse mortgages” are popular loan products in Florida. In order to foreclose on a reverse mortgage, the lender generally must allege that all conditions necessary to...more
On August 5, 2015, PHH Corp. (“PHH”) won a stay of the $109M penalty handed down by Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) director Rich Cordray. Cordray’s aggressive legal reasoning and the harsh penalties he imposed,...more
On August 4, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a bulletin providing guidance to mortgage servicers regarding cancellation and termination of private mortgage insurance. The bulletin, discusses...more
In the first appeal of an administrative enforcement proceeding before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“Bureau”), the administrative law judge (ALJ) concluded that PHH Corporation, a mortgage lender, referred...more
In affirming its own decision, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) leaves few protections for targets in its administrative enforcement proceedings. If you are subject to a CFPB administrative proceeding, or...more