A federal district court in Cincinnati granted what is believed to be the first certification of a class action in a Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act case ever in the Sixth Circuit. In that court, a team of JGL litigation attorneys and their co-counsel are advocating on behalf of borrowers whose mortgage loans are alleged to have been negatively affected by a series of improper kickbacks. The kickbacks in question are claimed to have violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and were allegedly conducted by lenders and title companies including Genuine Title and Emery Federal Credit Union. While this appears to be the first time a court in the Sixth Circuit has granted certification of a RESPA class action, the team did previously secure class certification of a related case in the Fourth Circuit last November.
In the 30-page opinion, the court deemed Emery’s arguments as “not persuasive” and sided with the plaintiffs at this stage of the litigation, allowing the case to move forward towards trial. The team representing the plaintiffs in this class action includes Timothy Maloney, Veronica Nannis and Megan Benevento of JGL as well as Michael Paul Smith and Sarah Zadrozny of Smith, Gildea & Schmidt, assisted by local counsel from Cincinnati Gregory Utter.
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