News Clips
- January 31, 2012 Lawyers' Committee Files Amicus Brief Supporting Disparate Impact Claims Under the Fair Housing Act On January 30, 2012 the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, all eight of its affiliates and 16 other civil rights organizations filed an amicus curiae brief in the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Magner v. Gallagher.
- January 18, 2012 Lawyers' Committee Submits Support Letter for HUD Proposed Regulation Concerning Disparate Impact Claims Under Fair Housing Act On January 17, 2012 the Lawyers’ Committee, six of its affiliates and eighteen other civil rights organizations submitted a comment letter in full support of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s proposed regulation establishing that violations of the Fair Housing Act may be proved through a disparate impact analysis.
- December 23, 2011 Lawyers’ Committee Praises the Department of Justice’s Settlement of Fair Lending Case against Countrywide Financial Corporation The Lawyers’ Committee applauds the Department of Justice’s filing on December 21, 2011 of the largest residential fair lending settlement in history to resolve allegations by the Department that Countrywide Financial Corporation and its subsidiaries engaged in a widespread pattern or practice of discrimination against qualified African-American and Hispanic borrowers in their mortgage lending from 2004 through 2008. Countrywide was acquired by the Bank of America after this period.
- December 21, 2011 Lawyers' Committee and Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center Release "People's Analysis of Impediments (AI) to Fair Housing for New Orleans" The "People's AI" is the result of a collaboration among the Lawyers' Committee, the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, and more than a dozen service providers, affordable housing developers, and advocates. The report provides recommendations about how the City of New Orleans can draft an effective Analysis of Impediments and critiques its current draft AI.
- December 07, 2011 | The City Project Advocates Submit Comments on FTA's Environmental Justice and Title VI Circulars The Lawyers' Committee and diverse national, statewide, and local organizations and scholars that work on transportation justice have submitted public comments to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) on the proposed new Circulars on Title VI and Environmental Justice.
- December 06, 2011 | NY Post Feds target HAMP scammers bilking owners Once again, mortgage servicers are hitting ordinary New York homeowners where it hurts. The latest evidence is widespread scams tied to the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, which was supposed to help up to 4 million troubled borrowers avoid foreclosure...
- November 18, 2011 Lawyers’ Committee Applauds HUD’s Release of Proposed Regulation Concerning Disparate Impact Claims under the Fair Housing Act On November 16, 2011, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published a proposed regulation entitled “Implementation of the Fair Housing Act’s Disparate Impact Standard.” “The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law applauds today’s publication for providing a definitive interpretation that violations of the Fair Housing Act may be proved through a disparate impact analysis as well as by proof of intentional discrimination,” said Fair Housing and Fair Lending Project Director Joe Rich. “The disparate impact (or discriminatory effect) theory is firmly established by Fair Housing Act case law. Starting 38 years ago, every appellate court that has addressed this issue, without exception, has found that the Fair Housing Act provides for disparate impact claims. Adding HUD’s interpretation through this regulation to this long line of court precedent clarifies and strengthens the ability of both the private and public sectors to vigorously enforce the Act.”
- November 14, 2011 | Wall Street Journal WSJ: "Mortgage Scams in a Weak Housing Market" Lawyers' Committee Senior Counsel Yolanda McGill is quoted in WSJ's latest article highlighting foreclosure rescue scams: "Schemes that prey on struggling homeowners heading toward foreclosure are 'the cash cow right now,' says Yolanda McGill, senior counsel for the Fair Housing and Fair Lending Project of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Some fraudsters are peddling services such as preparing documents for a loan modification. Others claim to be an attorney or say they are working with an attorney. Often, these offers sound legitimate, echoing some of the same language used by government programs and lenders to gain a homeowner's trust."
- October 19, 2011 LAWYERS’ COMMITTEE AND CIVIL RIGHTS PARTNERS FILED AMICUS BRIEF IN SUPREME COURT CASE RAISING IMPORTANT ACCESS TO COURT ISSUE On October 18, 2011, the Lawyers’ Committee, along with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the National Fair Housing Alliance and the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs submitted an amicus curiae brief in the Supreme Court in First America Financial Corp. v. Edwards (No. 10-708). This brief was filed in support of the Edwards and argues that Congress has broad rights to give private citizens access to the courts. The case involves a homebuyer who sued a title insurance company under a federal statute that aims to curtail kickbacks and collusion between providers of real estate settlement services (such as title insurance) and settlement or real estate agents.
- September 30, 2011 | American Lawyer Law and Order: A group of pro bono lawyers are pursuing fraud cases The October 2011 issue of American Lawyer includes a "Bartalk" spotlight on the great work of the Lawyers' Committee's Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network and the cases it has brought with pro bono partners Davis Polk in New York.
- September 29, 2011 | Newsday Borrowers win $68G award against loan modifier Nine borrowers have won a $68,000 judgment against a now-defunct loan modification company that illegally charged upfront fees -- and did little to lower mortgage payments...
- September 06, 2011 MCJ's Reilly Morse Contributes to Latest Brookings Publication on the Aftermath of Katrina With the recent passing of the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, The Brookings Institution published the book, “Resilience and Opportunity: Lessons from the Gulf Coast after Katrina and Rita,” highlighting strategies used to recover from the devastating tragedy and offering critical analysis of the lessons learned. The book includes a chapter by one of the Lawyers’ Committee’s close partners, Reilly Morse of the Mississippi Center for Justice (MCJ), entitled “Come On in This House: Advancing Social Equity in Post-Katrina Mississippi.” Morse’s chapter deals with recovery along the sometimes forgotten coast of Mississippi, particularly with regards to the social injustices manifested in attempts at redevelopment.
- September 01, 2011 Barbara Arnwine Speaks as a Panelist at EPA’s Environmental Justice Conference in Detroit, Discusses Agency Failure to Enforce Title VI Lawyers’ Committee Executive Director Barbara Arnwine participated on a panel called “Tools for Agency Accountability and Community Resolution: Civil Rights, Human Rights, Environmental Benefits Agreements, SEPs and Other Tools.” A poignant theme that emerged from the conversations was the longstanding failure of EPA to enforce Title VI environmental justice complaints. “We’re here in this frustration because we’ve been talking about this for decades," Barbara noted.
- August 30, 2011 | All Things Considered 'Left Out': Post-Katrina Housing Battle Continues "In Biloxi, railroad tracks separate some of the neighborhoods that got the most help from those who got little or no aid..."
- August 17, 2011 | Reuters, New York Daily News, Law 360, Long Island Business News Court Shut Down of NY Loan Scammer Homesafe America Picked Up By Reuters, New York Daily News, etc. This week the Nassau County Supreme Court issued a sweeping order shutting down one of New York’s largest mortgage scam operations pending trial. The order is the most substantial victory to date in a year-long legal campaign against “loan modification scams” in New York and nationwide. The court order ceases the operations of Homesafe America Inc. and its successor corporation, United Solutions Law Firm, which are alleged to have scammed more than a thousand low- and middle-income homeowners by falsely promising to help customers modify the terms of their mortgages. News coverage on this case after the jump.
- August 12, 2011 | Black Enterprise 5 Signs of a Foreclosure Rescue Scam On July 31, the National Bar Association held a panel to discuss the impact of the foreclosure crisis on communities of color at its 86th annual convention and exhibits. Black Enterprise spoke with two of the panelists -- Yolanda D. McGill, senior counsel of the Fair Housing and Lending Project with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Vicki King Taitano, director of the Foreclosure Legal Assistance Project with the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau...
- August 03, 2011 | USA Today New Orleans unveils fresh model for housing the poor "The Magnolia Projects, once one of the city's most notorious public housing complexes, today is Harmony Oaks Apartments, a 460-unit mix of government-subsidized and market-priced apartments. It replaces one of six public housing projects across the city recently razed to make room for new apartments and a fresh approach to housing the city's poor..."
- July 25, 2011 | Seattle PI 50-Plus Americans a Favorite Target of Mortgage Rescue Scammers "Older Americans are among the hardest hit by scams preying on distressed homeowners by offering foreclosure counseling or loan modification assistance for a fee..."
- July 22, 2011 Lawyers' Committee's Prevent Loan Scams Project Releases Issue Brief, "Seniors Among Hardest Hit by Foreclosure Rescue Scams" The Lawyers’ Committee’s Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network, a joint initiative of the Committee’s Legal Mobilization and Fair Housing & Fair Lending Projects, released an Issue Brief highlighting the plight of senior Americans, one of the many groups of homeowners in real distress who are particularly vulnerable to suffering at the hands of foreclosure rescue scammers.
- July 20, 2011 | NBC Bay Area News Plaintiff in CA Class Action Against Mortgage Modification Scammer Interviewed on NBC Bay Area News Judy Jones, a plaintiff in the Lawyers' Committee's class action suit against RewireMyLoan.com and related entities, talks to NBC about her first-hand experience with this foreclosure rescue scam operation and how homeowners can recognize the tell-tale signs of a mortgage scam in the future.
- July 15, 2011 Article Published Highlighting Ways Funders Can Support Fair Housing Advocates This month, the Neighborhood Funders’ Group featured an article by Joe Rich, Director of the Fair Housing and Fair Lending Project at the Lawyers’ Committee, which outlines suggestions as to how funders can support fair housing advocates as they fight for improved enforcement of the AFFH provision and more comprehensive fair housing regulations.
- July 07, 2011 Initial Victories in New Cases Filed against Two of New York’s Largest Mortgage Scammers The Lawyers’ Committee is pleased to report on two sweeping court orders from the New York State Supreme Court that restrain the activities of alleged loan modification scammers, providing early victories for financially vulnerable homeowners. The rulings pertain to two new cases filed last week by the Lawyers’ Committee and its pro bono counsel Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in New York.
- July 07, 2011 | WBAI Wake Up Call Lawyers' Committee's Loan Scam Campaign and NY Cases Featured on NYC WBAI's Morning News WBAI Radio's "Wake Up Call" morning news program interviews Lawyers' Committee Counsel Eunice Rho about our newest loan scam cases filed in New York. Ms. Rho also highlights some key warning signs of a possible loan modification scam and how these mainly internet-based schemes target wide populations and leave homeowners in extreme financial distress.
- July 06, 2011 | San Francisco Chronicle CA Lawsuit Goes After Loan Modification Fraud Bay Area attorneys and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in June filed one of California's first class-action lawsuits against alleged loan-modification scammers in the San Jose area. SFGate reports: "The complaint said the defendants collected up to $4,995 each from victims for the promised loan modifications, and offered a 100 percent money-back guarantee, but then neither delivered the loan modifications nor refunded the payments. At least 90 Santa Clara County families were victimized, the complaint said..."
- June 14, 2011 | Clearinghouse Review Article on Katrina Settlement by Fair Housing Project Director Published in Clearinghouse Review An article detailing the history behind the November 2010 Katrina Recovery settlement between HUD and Mississippi has been published in the May/June 2011 issue of the Clearinghouse Review.
- June 10, 2011 | The Recorder and The Daily Journal California Loan Scam Case in the Recorder and Daily Journal "The complaint alleges Nathanson "sat atop a loan modification scam network" that funneled desperate homeowners threatened by foreclosure to his prior law firm. The lawsuit claims RewireMyLoan.com served as an intermediary between Nathanson and borrowers, promising to help with loan modification services, collecting documentation and directing homeowners to the lawyer in exchange for a cut of the upfront fees. Rewire guaranteed to refund homeowners' payments if Nathanson failed to acquire loan modifications, the plaintiffs' lawyers allege, but never followed through on the promise..."
- June 09, 2011 Lawyers’ Committee Files Lawsuit Against California Mortgage Scam Scheme On June 8, 2011, the Loan Modification Scam Prevention litigation team of the Lawyers’ Committee, in conjunction with the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, filed a class action lawsuit in California on behalf of vulnerable local homeowners victimized by a network of scam artists. The plaintiffs believe that over 90 California homeowners have been injured by this scam. This complaint is the second case brought by the Lawyers’ Committee as a part of its nationwide legal campaign to combat foreclosure rescue fraud and mortgage modification scams.
- May 05, 2011 | OurWeekly HUD Launches Anti-Scam Campaign HUD launches a campaign against loan modification scams called, “Know It. Avoid It. Report It.” in targeted cities Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami. LMSPN's Yolanda McGill traveled to California to help launch the program.
- March 24, 2011 | Huffington Post Huffington Post Article Featuring New York Loan Scam Case and LMSPN "Shukran is one of nine plaintiffs in what a lawsuit filed last week in Nassau County Supreme Court describes as an "elaborate network" of affiliated companies that have operated under such names as "Save My Home," "Save My Home Now," "Express Modifications" and "Express Home Solutions."..."
- March 18, 2011 New Fair Housing Suit Filed Against Huntington, NY On March 17, 2011, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the law firm of Skadden Arps renewed their efforts to ensure the development of affordable housing that is available to minorities and families with children in the Town of Huntington, New York by filing a new complaint and a motion for preliminary injunction.
- March 10, 2011 | Wall Street Journal Lawyers' Committee's NY Loan Scam Suit Featured in WSJ Since February 2010, when the Lawyer's Committee began keeping track of modification fraud complaints, more than 10,000 homeowners nationwide have claimed they were victims of similar scams resulting in more than $27 million in losses. About 500 of those complaints are from New York, which the claimants said resulted in more than $2 million in losses.
- March 09, 2011 Lawyers' Committee Files Lawsuit against “Elaborate Network” of NY Scam Companies This lawsuit against "Save My Home" is the first action brought in a nationwide legal campaign to target foreclosure rescue fraud and mortgage modification scams.
- March 04, 2011 Lawyers’ Committee Files Fair Housing Complaint with HUD against Long Island Town On March 3, the Lawyers’ Committee filed a fair housing complaint with HUD against Huntington, NY, alleging that the town has failed to meet its obligation under the FHA to affirmatively further fair housing.
- February 28, 2011 Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network Featured on My Carolina Today The Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network's Yolanda McGill appeared on My Carolina Today, a morning show produced at the WNCN NBC-17 studios in Raleigh, NC.
- January 12, 2011 | Texas PBS Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network and Yolanda McGill Featured in Texas PBS Special Texas PBS in cooperation with the Texas Foreclosure Prevention Task Force and NeighborWorks® America continues to air a 30-minute special which debuted in December concerning the ongoing morass of loan modification and foreclosure scams.
- January 07, 2011 LMSPN's PreventLoanScams.org Highlighted by National Coalition as Consumer Tool The Lawyers’ Committee’s Prevent Loan Scams project, a key component of the national Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network campaign, has recently been highlighted by a national consumer protection coalition as a valuable resource in the fight against foreclosure rescue/loan modification fraud.
- December 20, 2010 | NYT PreventLoanScams.org mention in NYT Article: Hiring a Lawyer for Loan-Modification Help According to PreventLoanScams.org, a new online site operated by the nonprofit Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, homeowners should be cautious about: any guarantees that a loan will be modified, since not all can be; requests for an upfront fee or that the property title be signed over to a third party; and offers to redirect the monthly mortgage payments to a third party who will forward them to the lender or mortgage servicer.
- November 24, 2010 FTC Issues Rule to Protect Struggling Homeowners from Loan Modification Scams The Lawyers' Committee outlines the FTC's new rule - the Mortgage Assistance Relief Services (MARS) Rule - issued on November 19, 2010.
- November 22, 2010 Click here to view a PDF fact sheet about the HUD-Mississippi settlement and where to go if you think you qualify for funds.
- November 17, 2010 | NYTimes For Katrina Victims, Relief at Last - NYTimes Editorial It took five long years. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has finally persuaded Mississippi to do right by Hurricane Katrina survivors who were unfairly shut out of a federally financed disaster aid program designed by the state. Congress needs to rewrite disaster aid regulations so that a travesty like this one never happens again.
- November 15, 2010 | Florida Times-Union LSMPN: Persistent Scammer Moves Just Across State Lines As states become more aware of the loan modification scams that are running rampant throughout the country, scammers are being shut down by state and local officials. However, this does not mean these scammers won’t be back with another company. Global Equity Solutions, a Florida based company run by Brian Lozito, was shut down and assets seized by Florida authorities. Three weeks later, Lozito set up shop again just 60 miles away in the state of Georgia.
- November 15, 2010 Lawyers' Committee Announces Katrina Recovery Settlement with HUD & Miss. On November 8, HUD approved a disaster recovery plan redirecting $132 million to address the unmet housing needs of low income homeowners and renters in Mississippi.
- November 14, 2010 | Biloxi-Gulfport Sun Herald One Last Chance for Recovery on the Coast One final program aims to complete Katrina housing recovery by providing $132 million to repair or rebuild thousands of Katrina-damaged homes for low- to moderate-income families.
- November 13, 2010 | Biloxi-Gulfport Sun Herald Sun Herald Editorial: A fine, final effort to meet housing needs One last comprehensive effort will be made to meet the unmet Hurricane Katrina-related housing needs of South Mississippians.
- August 19, 2010 | News-Press Southwest Florida advisers asked to help stop mortgage scams Lawyers' Committee's Alejandro Reyes highlights critical importance of the Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network and the Lawyers' Committee's database of reported scams to help put scammers out of business. "We need your help to collect this information so we can spot trends," Reyes said.
- March 05, 2010 | BlackAmericaWeb.com Coalition Aims to Protect Homeowners from Scams Lawyers' Committee Executive Director Barbara Arnwine and Fair Housing and Fair Lending Senior Councel Yolanda McGill discuss newly-launched PreventLoanScams.org and provide information and insight to protect homeowners from loan modification scams.
- November 23, 2009 | Washington Post 12-year prison term in mortgage swindle On Tuesday, November 17, Maria Glod of the Washington Post reported that U.S. District Court Judge Roger W. Titus of the District of Maryland had sentenced the perpetrator of an elaborate foreclosure rescue scam to over twelve years in prison in a case brought by the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s office. The court found that Joy Jackson, President of Lanham, Maryland’s Metropolitan Money Store, had defrauded hundreds of homeowners of tens of millions of dollars of equity.
- November 19, 2009 | Columbus Dispatch Mortgage-modification alert: Scammers prey on at-risk homeowners Lawyers' Committee's Eric Marshall comments on the importance of reporting loan-modification scammers.
- November 05, 2009 | KPHO (Phoenix) Loan Modification Scams On The Rise-New Web Site Launched To Help Homeowners Lawyers' Committee partners with network to provide resources for at-risk homeowners to recognize scams, report them and find legitimate help. Joe Rich, director, Fair Housing and Fair Lending Project, comments on the importance of spreading the word about loan modification scams and free help available to homeowners.
- September 21, 2009 | The New York Times Mississippi's Failure In a September 21 editorial, the New York Times highlighted the state of Mississippi's failure to adequately address the affordable housing needs of low- and moderate-income residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina through the use of $5.5 billion in federal recovery funds.
- September 17, 2009 | WTOC (CBS, Savannah) Is Jeffers Road legally a private road? The issue with water and sewer services to African-American neighborhoods has been resolved, but the question still remains, who will have access to Jeffers Road? Client, Della Steele, is featured.
- September 16, 2009 | WTOC (CBS, Savannah) Lawsuit Against Port Wentworth Finally Over After years of litigation and relying upon wells and septic tanks, African Americans in Port Wentworth, GA will receive municipal water and sewer services. Client, Della Steele, is featured.
- September 03, 2009 | New York Times Judges’ Frustration Grows With Mortgage Servicers Bobbie Giguere’s unfortunate situation illustrates the importance of the bankruptcy court as source of authority for residential mortgage loan modifications. Giving bankruptcy judges the power to modify residential mortgage loans would provide a tremendous incentive for banks to clean up their loan mod pipelines and give timely and complete attention to borrowers who are seeking the help.
- August 31, 2009 St. Bernard Parish Needs to Stop Defiance on Fair Housing At a St. Bernard Parish Planning Commission hearing on August 25, local officials continued to deny approval of four proposed mixed-income apartment buildings despite multiple rulings by Judge Ginger Berrigan that decreed that by blocking the development the parish has violated the federal Fair Housing Act and the terms of a February 2008 consent decree in the case of Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center v. St. Bernard Parish.
- July 22, 2009 Legal Action Taken Against Loan Modification Firms Peter Goodman reports in the New York Times that the Federal Trade Commission has brought legal action against five loan modification firms, several of which were formerly operating as mortgage brokers.
- July 02, 2009 NOTICE: Fairness Hearing Scheduled for Smithtown Settlement On August 28, 2009, a fairness hearing will be held for potential class members in the case of Vargas v. Smithtown to have the opportunity to express their thoughts and ask any questions regarding the fairness of the proposed settlement. Individuals who would like to appear at the hearing must send by first-class mail certain information in writing postmarked by August 14, 2009.
- June 24, 2009 All subprime mortgages are not equal Lawyers' Committee Executive Director Barbara Arnwine is a "Braintruster" for New Deal 2.0 (ND2.0), a one-stop-shop for current news, fresh insight, sharp analysis of the country's fiscal crisis - and the people and policies that offer potential solutions. A new and defining project of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, ND2.0 features commentary from the country's leading thinkers: economists, historians, political scientists, policy experts and elected officials.
- May 11, 2009 Lawyers' Committee Commends HUD's Decision to Withhold Funds from Westchester County, New York
- May 08, 2009 | Forbes.com (Associated Press) Miss. Plaintiffs to Fight HUD's Motion to Dismiss
- April 28, 2009 Sound the Alarm ... Civil Rights, Still At Risk With the historic election of Barack Obama as this nation's first African American president, we still are in a time where we must "sound the alarm" and heighten awareness of the ongoing struggle for racial justice and equality across the country as never before. The racial contradictions in our society are in many ways peaking instead of waning. Nowhere is this truer than in this term of when the U.S. Supreme Court is slated to hear nine civil rights cases, almost a record number.
