Press Releases
- January 05, 2012 National Loan Scam Prevention Database Surpasses Critical Milestone The Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network (LMSPN) recently reached a critical milestone in the national effort to stop foreclosure rescue scams. Through the efforts of homeowners, housing counselors, advocates and Network partners from across the country, the national Loan Modification Scam Database, led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, has collected more than 20,000 scam complaint reports since its launch in March 2010.
- December 09, 2011 Port Restoration an Economic Disappointment and Likely Environmental Burden for Mississippi At a community event today, the Steps Coalition and its partners in the recently formed Port Campaign Coalition demonstrated that the $480 million federally-funded restoration of the State Port will produce an approximate net increase of only 330 direct jobs to the Port’s pre-Katrina workforce.
- November 17, 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.”
- August 29, 2011 Lawyers' Committee Continues to Emphasize Need for Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice and Recovery Efforts Six Years Following Wrath of Hurricane Katrina
- August 15, 2011 Injunction Obtained in New York Loan Modification Scam Lawsuit Against Homesafe America, Inc. This morning, Justice John M. Galasso of 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.
- July 21, 2011 Seniors Among Hardest Hit by Foreclosure Rescue Scams; Today's Launch of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is Critical The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law applauds today's launch of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). To mark this momentous date in the fight for consumer protections, the Lawyers' Committee released an issue brief on the severe impact of the ongoing foreclosure rescue scam crisis on older Americans. Scammers are preying on distressed homeowners by offering much-needed foreclosure counseling or loan modification assistance for a fee, yet failing to deliver any results-or refunds-in the end.
- July 06, 2011 HOMEOWNERS STRIKE BACK AGAINST TWO OF NEW YORK’S LARGEST MORTGAGE SCAMMERS Two justices of the New York State Supreme Court have issued sweeping orders to restrain the activities of alleged “loan modification” scammers, providing major victories for financially vulnerable homeowners. The cases were brought by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and its pro bono counsel Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP on behalf of more than 30 homeowners who allegedly lost money to the two companies.
- June 09, 2011 Lawyers’ Committee Files Lawsuit Against California Mortgage Scam Scheme The Lawyers’ Committee, Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, and pro bono counsel Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of California homeowners who have been victimized by a network of scam artists preying on vulnerable homeowners. As a result of this alleged loan modification scam, the victims have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
- April 28, 2011 Lawyers’ Committee and Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center Release Handbook Detailing Strategies to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing in New Orleans The handbook recommends fair housing strategies, such as inclusionary zoning and a procedure for developers of supportive housing to request reasonable accommodations, as the City Planning Commission re-drafts New Orleans' zoning ordinance.
- March 09, 2011 Lawyers' Committee Files Lawsuit against “Elaborate Network” of NY Scam Companies The Lawyers' Committee and pro bono counsel Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP filed a lawsuit today on behalf of local homeowners who were scammed by for-profit loan modification companies.
- February 28, 2011 Lawyers' Committee to Highlight Loan Modification Scams at Top Frauds Press Conference Led by FTC, BBB, and New York Federal, State and City Agencies, as Part of National Consumer Protection Week
- December 09, 2010 Lawyers’ Committee Lauds Introduction of Bill to Amend Fair Housing Act On December 8, Congressmen Jerrold Nadler and John Conyers, of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and Chairman of Oversight and Government Reform CommitteeEdolphus Towns introduced the Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) Act (H.R. 6500), in an effort to broaden the coverage of the federal Fair Housing Act and to improve other provisions of the Act.
- September 10, 2010 Lawyers' Committee Applauds Court of Appeals Decision Striking Down Hazleton PA Discriminatory Anti-Immigration Ordinances The Lawyers’ Committee applauds the decision entered on September 9th by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Lozano, et al. v. City of Hazleton affirming a 2007 district court decision which struck down two local anti-immigration ordinances enacted in Hazelton, Pa. The ordinances would have punished landlords renting to illegal immigrants and employers hiring undocumented workers, ultimately forcing local immigrants out of town.
- August 13, 2010 Lawyers' Committee Releases Five-Year Katrina Report and Emphasizes Need for Continued Fight for Racial Justice and Recovery Efforts Report, Released During 85th Annual National Bar Association Convention in New Orleans, Details Legal Assistance to Hurricane Victims
- June 21, 2010 Lawyers' Committee Applauds U.S. Department of Justice's Recent Massive Crackdown on Mortgage Fraud The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law applauds U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and the U.S. Department of Justice's national initiative, Operation Stolen Dreams, to combat mortgage fraud which netted 500 arrests since March.
- March 26, 2010 Lawyers' Committee and Co-Counsel File Motion for Preliminary Injunction in Long Island Exclusionary Zoning Fair Housing Case
- March 10, 2010 Lawyers' Committee's Barbara Arnwine to Testify Before House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties On "Protecting the American Dream: A Look at the Fair Housing Act"
- February 23, 2010 Appeal Filed in Mississippi Civil Rights Suit Against HUD On behalf of the Mississippi State Conference NAACP, the Gulf Coast Fair Housing Center and four individual plaintiffs, lawyers from Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo, PC, the Mississippi Center for Justice and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, today filed an appeal in a case involving $570 million of emergency relief funds that were intended to assist low- and moderate-income victims of Hurricane Katrina, but instead were diverted to an expansion of the Port of Gulfport, Miss. Plaintiffs contend that the diversion violates fair housing laws and the intent by Congress for how these funds would be used.
- February 17, 2010 PreventLoanScams.org a New Online Tool in the Fight Against Loan Modification Scammers
- November 23, 2009 Joint Statement from Reilly Morse, Mississippi Center for Justice Senior Attorney, and Joe Rich, Director Fair Housing, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, on HUD’s Rejection of Texas’s Disaster Plan
- November 13, 2009 Lawyers' Committee Applauds Fair Housing Ruling in Bloch v. Frischholz
- October 26, 2009 National Campaign Empowers Homeowners to Combat Loan Modification Scams A network of local, state and national partners, including the Lawyers' Committee, announces new resources for at-risk homeowners to recognize scams, report them and find legitimate help.
- September 01, 2009 Court Approves $925,000 Settlement in Housing Discrimination Case Reached Between the Lawyers' Committee and the Town of Smithtown in March
- August 26, 2009 Port Wentworth, Georgia Settlement Requires Equal Municipal Services to African-American Communities
- August 13, 2009 Lawyers' Committee Applauds Landmark Fair Housing Settlement
- June 29, 2009 U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Federal Regulatory Preemption of State Civil Rights Enforcement
- June 08, 2009 LAWYERS' COMMITTEE PARTNERS WITH WHUR TO SPONSOR HOUSING AND FORECLOSURE PREVENTION SEMINAR
- May 11, 2009 Lawyers' Committee Commends HUD's Decision to Withhold Funds from Westchester County, New York
- May 04, 2009 National Fair Housing Commission Honors Kemp WASHINGTON - The National Fair Housing Commission - founded by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, and the National Fair Housing Alliance - released this statement on news of the Honorable Jack Kemp's passing.
- March 05, 2009 Lawyers' Committee Fights for Enforcement of State Fair Lending Laws Against National Banks
