Law and legal issues

Kidder Matthews, the top commercial real estate firm on the West Coast, is being sued by a former employee who alleges its brokers engaged in a scheme to defraud property owners and that higher ups knew about it and did nothing.

Wells Fargo forced borrowers to pay millions of dollars in fees to extend interest rate locks that expired due to the bank's delays in processing mortgage applications, a lawsuit claims.

Payday lenders and arbitration supporters are claiming the CFPB has met more often with consumer groups than industry, laying the groundwork for likely lawsuits on key rules.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter to 16 big banks asking them if they support a GOP effort to overturn the CFPB arbitration rule.

The financial services industry is at risk of being caught flat-footed if a legislative measure to rescind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule regulating arbitration agreements fails to pass.

Staff for House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling said CFPB Director Richard Cordray is continuing to ignore subpoenas tied to the agency's work on the arbitration rule.

Democrats on the House and Senate banking committees are urging Republicans to hold hearings with Wells Fargo's top executives over its phony-accounts and force-placed insurance scandals.

Republicans need just 50 votes in the Senate to repeal the CFPB's rule banning mandatory arbitration, but some key GOP senators remain on the fence.

Four Republican senators are seen as possible defectors on a vote to repeal the CFPB's arbitration rule, while another senator may be absent, which will make the GOP's job harder.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika said Monday that he would not interfere with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's rule banning mandatory arbitration after missing a key deadline to appeal the regulation.