Ocwen wins out against CFPB in long-running servicing lawsuit — again

A federal judge in Florida granted Ocwen a summary judgment victory over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the final remaining matter from a series of cases filed in 2017.

Specifically, Judge Kenneth Marra ruled that any activities alleged in the first nine counts of the complaint regarding Ocwen's servicing activities that occurred before Feb. 26, 2017, had already been covered by the National Mortgage Settlement entered into in 2014 and cannot be relitigated by the CFPB.

Judge Marra left an opening for the government to submit any claims of any alleged violations that occurred after Feb. 26, 2017, after the NMS agreement expired and thus were not covered by that legal action. The CFPB has 15 days to file its supplemental position statement indicating whether it intends to pursue claims for any alleged statutory violations occurring after Feb. 26, 2017, the ruling said.

The CFPB, along with the Florida attorney general, filed its case in April 2017; a group of what became 30 state regulators and/or attorneys general filed their own action at the same time.

All but the CFPB case were resolved. Last September, Marra first granted Ocwen a summary judgement in the case but allowed the CFPB to refile if it could separate factual allegations for each count in the complaint, which it did. In January, Ocwen announced that the court-ordered mediation effort to resolve this case had failed.

The final count that is active involves allegations regarding the timely cancellation of private mortgage insurance by Ocwen. Marra denied both parties’ request for summary judgement for this part of the lawsuit.

Ocwen vowed to continue defending its case.

"Throughout this litigation we have remained steadfast in our belief that the CFPB's claims regarding Ocwen's past servicing practices were without merit," a company press release said. "Ocwen will continue to vigorously defend itself on the single remaining count and on any claims the Court allows to proceed concerning periods after Feb. 26, 2017."

The CFPB did not comment on the decision.