Class Action Defense

The firm's Consumer Financial Services Class Action Defense Group is a national commercial litigation practice concentrating in class action and multi-district litigation. The group has defended several of the country's major banks and mortgage banking companies in over 100 nationwide class action cases involving a variety of state and federal claims.

Since the proliferation of class action litigation against the mortgage banking industry began almost 20 years ago, we have successfully defended nationwide class actions filed in state and federal courts across the country. Those cases involve claims for violation of various federal statutes, such as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Cranston-Gonzales Act. Many of those cases also involve claims for violation of various states' statutes, including statutes relating to consumer fraud, reconveyance of deeds of trusts and/or satisfaction of mortgages, the charging of property inspection fees and fees charged at the time of loan payoff. Other state law claims include claims for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment and common law fraud, among others.

The particular types of class actions we have defended involving the mortgage lending and servicing industries include challenges to escrow practices, fees at payoff, force placed insurance, property inspection fees, private mortgage insurance fees, late fees, yield spread premiums, as well as a servicer's policies and practices for responding to "qualified written requests" under the Cranston-Gonzales Act.