Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy Robosigning Business Challenged by Debtors, Trustee

By Alan White

A new amended class action complaint filed on behalf of Chapter 13 debtors, with their Trustee as additional plaintiff, describes in exhaustive detail the business of Lender Processing Services and its network of creditor attorneys and mortgage servicers.  The gist is that LPS sells the dominant software product to mortgage servicers, and the software is designed to refer all foreclosure and bankruptcy cases to LPS-affiliated firms, which then share legal fees earned by litigating stay motions and claims in bankruptcy with LPS companies.  In the process, LPS firms and their nonattorney employees allegedlly produce robosigned missing mortgage assignments and bankruptcy court filings.

This colorful pleading describes LPS as Mephistopheles and the participating law firms as Faust.  Some of the practices are familiar, thanks to Judge Sigmund's decision in the Taylor case, discussed here previously.  LPS and its affiliates, of course, vigorously dispute all allegations and claim that their business is perfectly legal, and does not constitute unauthorized practice of law, although their SEC filings are considerably more ambivalent on the latter point.

More details on this and related litigation are available in this detailed report.

Full post as published by Credit Slips on February 08, 2011 (boomark / email).