The mortgage servicing firm accused of running a massive 'robo-signing' scheme in Nevada and directing Notary-employees to improperly notarize thousands of documents has been named in a class-action lawsuit by local homeowners.
The suit seeks to stop home sales and evictions affecting the plaintiffs as well as seeking monetary damages for alleged deceptive trade practices by Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS). Notaries working for LPS previously testified before a grand jury that their LPS supervisors routinely had them notarize the supervisors’ signatures without proper identification or personal appearance on thousands of documents.
Ongoing legal actions against LPS — including a previous civil lawsuit filed against the company by the state Attorney General’s office — have drawn national media attention. Other federal and state authorities are taking action against the disastrous consequences of ignoring and actively circumventing sound notarial practices in foreclosure proceedings.
Massachusetts has filed a lawsuit against five national banks related to the ‘robo-signing’ crisis, and in an effort to assist homeowners throughout the country embroiled in legal and financial problems as a result of bad foreclosures, state attorneys general and federal agencies announced they are close to finalizing a nationwide settlement with a number of banks over “robo-signing” practices — which has been estimated to possibly reach as high as $25 billion.
David Thun is an Associate Editor at the National Notary Association.