Law and legal issues

From updates in mortgage-related court cases, to developments in AI and policy, here are the most-read stories from National Mortgage News over the past week.

Newrez wants all three of OneTrust's claims to be dismissed.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sued 15 lenders on loans brokered through Washington Mutual that were included in securitizations before the bank's 2008 failure.

The proposed class action suit claims the fintech lender purposefully pushed customers applying for HELOC loans into higher rates, or misrepresented rates at the beginning.

The lenders accused each other of poaching the same Hawaii-based mortgage team from each other in the past two years.

The pairing of these rule sets can multiply the layers of compliance to vet when adopting new technology. Here's how experts suggest approaching this challenge.

Besides allegations of trade secret theft, HMAC is accusing rival OCMBC and Michael Turturro of stealing the branding around its Jet Mortgage division.

The long-troubled lender owes at least $40 million to mortgage industry counterparties and tax collectors, it said.

On top of cratering origination figures, the company faces lawsuits from counterparties over nonpayment.

Brokers say the credit giant, which charges $66.45 per individual check, hasn't made its product better through its acquisitions.

The changes that affect how buyer broker commissions are paid go into effect on Aug. 17, but there's much uncertainty about carrying them out, said Ryan Tomasello of KBW.

The Supreme Court decided to rule narrowly in Cantero v. Bank of America, N.A., sending the case back to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit with instructions to perform a more nuanced analysis on whether a New York escrow law unfairly discriminates against national banks.

The billion-dollar originators are disputing Waterstone Mortgage's alleged raiding of 60 employees two years ago, which led three offices to shutter.

A Connecticut judge gave preliminary approval of a $2.42 million settlement between the plaintiffs and Planet Home Lending. Plaintiffs could receive up to $2,000 from the settlement fund.

Attorneys representing the collective suit are set to receive $1 million, per the settlement.

The hack that occurred in December affected 27,746 mortgage customers, the South Carolina-based lender said.

The goal of Newrez's litigation, OneTrust claims, is not to secure a favorable judgment, "but to harm OneTrust's standing and reputation."

A complaint lists out a number expenditures that employees paid out of pocket, but were not reimbursed for, such as high-speed internet, a dedicated phone, and home office expenses.

America's Moneyline, which is accused of flouting UWM's ultimatum, argues Fairway's exit from wholesale and recent media coverage warrant a reconsideration of a previous decision to dismiss its countersuit.

The Supreme Court issued an opinion Thursday morning that was unequivocal in its view that Congress is constitutionally empowered to fund agencies with open-ended and indirect funding mechanisms, overruling a 5th Circuit opinion from 2022 that found that executive branches must be subject to direct Congressional appropriations.