Bank of America

Week Adjourned: 12.31.10

Top Lawsuits

This lawsuit is a suitable close to a year of lawsuits against big and small banks alike for conduct not befitting a cockroach.

Bank of America (BoA) and BAC Home Loans Servicing are facing a potential class action lawsuit over allegations that they refused to participate in foreclosure prevention programs even though they had accepted $25 billion in financing from the federal government through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Lead plaintiff Susan Fraser claims that by taking the TARP funds, BoA agreed to participate in at least one TARP-authorized program to minimize foreclosures. In April 2007, BoA signed a contract with the US Treasury stating that it would comply with the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) to perform loan modifications and other foreclosure prevention services.

The suit also alleges that the HAMP program requires BoA to identify loans that are subject to modification; collect financial and other personal information from the homeowners to evaluate whether the homeowner is eligible for modification; institute a modified loan with a reduced payment amount as per a mandated formula that is effective for a three-month trial period; and provide a permanently modified loan to those homeowners who comply with the requirements during the trial period.

“Though Bank of America accepted $25 billion in TARP funds and entered into a contract obligating itself to comply with the HAMP directives and to extend loan modifications for the benefit of distressed homeowners, Bank of America has systematically failed to comply with the terms of the HAMP directives and has regularly and repeatedly violated several of its prohibitions,” the complaint states.

Wait—there’s more. The complaint also states, “Bank of America’s delay and obstruction tactics Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 12.31.10”

Week Adjourned: 10.29.10

Top Class Actions

What’s the word de jour? Foreclosure—actually—make that Foreclosure Class Actions. This week saw several foreclosure lawsuits filed against big banks. Possibly the most recent, was filed against BAC Home Loans Servicing, which is a subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation, and successor in interest to Countrywide Home Loans Servicing; Deutsche Bank National Trust Company; and U.S. Bank National Association. The suit was filed on behalf of all those property owners who lost title to their property in foreclosure proceedings based on false and perjurious affidavits filed by the banks and their servicing companies.

Perjurious affidavits? What the heck are those, you ask? Well like everything, foreclosure is a business—a business that seemingly works on volume. Apparently, the banks have been hiring so-called “robo signers” or “affidavit slaves”—employees who literally sign hundreds of foreclosure documents a day, according to the Wall Street Journal, without carefully reviewing their contents. The Washington Post recently ran a story on a man who has signed as many as 10,000 foreclosure documents in one month.

Back to the lawsuit. The BAC suit alleges that the defendant banks obtained wrongful foreclosures by abusing the court process and submitting affidavits that were false, even though sworn to under penalty of perjury, as the basis for obtaining foreclosure judgments. They seek to restore title to the property owners.

Another foreclosure class action filed this week also named the omnipresent Bank of America (BoFA) as a defendant, not surprising since BoFA reportedly holds one in five mortgages in the Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 10.29.10”

Week Adjourned: 3.26.10

Top Class Actions

One Percent Solution? Wasn’t it about this time last year when the big bank bailouts were front page news? You know, billions of tax payers’ dollars forked over to some of the biggest lending institutions in the country to help stave off complete economic obliteration stemming from bad lending practices and resulting mortgage foreclosures?

Well, sadly, and the cynic in me says predictably, it seems the bailout bucks may not be reaching their intended destination. Washington homeowners are suing Bank of America claiming the lending giant is intentionally withholding government funds intended to save homeowners from foreclosure.

The lawsuit claims that Bank of America systematically slows or thwarts Washington homeowners’ access to Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds by ignoring homeowners’ requests to make reasonable mortgage adjustments or other alternative solutions that would prevent homes from being foreclosed.

FYI—Bank of America accepted more than $25 billion in government bailout money financed by taxpayer dollars purposely to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure. Apparently, one in eight Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 3.26.10”

Week Adjourned: 10.30.09

Bit of irony, no? The Age of the Overtime Class Action…

Top Class Actions

Wells, It’s Official… Wells Fargo is now facing a wages and overtime class action filed by technical support staff who allege that they were not paid for time worked in excess of 40 hours per week.

The suit covers all network engineers, operating systems engineers, information security analysts, technical service specialists, systems support analysts, web engineers, web support engineers, web systems engineers, operating systems analysts (level 2), systems QA analysts (levels 2 or 3), computer operations analysts (levels 3 or 4), database administrators (levels 2 or 3), and applications systems engineers (level 3) who worked for Wells Fargo as exempt employees at any time during the past three years anywhere in the United States. It is estimated that about 3,000 employees are eligible to participate in the unpaid overtime class action.

Eligible employees have 75 days to join the lawsuit.

BOA Constricting Overtime Pay? And then there’s Bank of America: A lawsuit was filed this week on behalf of telephone-dedicated employees for unpaid wages and overtime worked at company call centers across the country. The lawsuit was filed as a collective action, which Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 10.30.09”

Week Adjourned: 10.23.09

Top Class Actions

Wynn Gambling with Employees Health? After all the noise about second hand smoke being a known risk factor for cancer, you would think the last thing an employer would want to do is wilfully expose its employees to the carcinogen. At the very least, why risk the lawsuit, right?

Wrong. The employees at Wynn Las Vegas Hotel and Casino filed a class action lawsuit this week, alleging that Wynn failed to provide a safe work environment for its employees and failed to protect them from the effects of second-hand smoke.

According to the suit, the risks are exacerbated for employees because not only is smoking permitted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but it is also encouraged. In some cases the casino gives cigarettes away to gamblers on the casino floor. What? That’s bad judgement no matter how you look at it.

The suit further claims employees that complain about the smoke risk losing their jobs. So, let’s see, you have to choose between risking your health or your livelihood. Or sue. Well—I’d choose the last option as well.

Top Settlements

New Math on Big Bank Fees: Big Banks = Big Fees = Big Lawsuits = Big Settlements. At Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 10.23.09”