“Each individual transaction can cost $100 or more,” Lyon said Tuesday. “In many cases, they just avoided filing anything at the courthouse. They didn’t pay anybody.”
Complaint below…
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EBR court clerk sues lenders in withholding fees
State District Court Clerk Doug Welborn of Baton Rouge sued 17 banks and mortgage companies Tuesday, alleging they participated in a racketeering conspiracy to avoid millions of dollars in fees on real estate transactions over the past decade.
No specific dollar amounts are included in the suit, but Welborn’s attorneys in Dallas County, Texas, said approximately $450 million in combined losses were suffered by court clerks in East Baton Rouge and 28 other Louisiana parishes.
“We’re pursuing this matter on behalf of the clerks of court,” said attorney Richard D. Faulkner from his office in Richardson, Texas. Faulkner estimated the alleged loss in East Baton Rouge Parish alone at $40 million.
Attorney Ted B. Lyon, of Mesquite, Texas, also represents Welborn. Lyon said additional suits will be filed against the same mortgage lenders and banks in Texas and several other states, beginning in about a month.
Alleged losses are expected to total billions of dollars, Lyon added. “It’s huge,” he said.
Rest here…
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4closureFraud.org
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DOUG WELBORN AS CLERK OF COURT v BANK OF NY MELLON, BOA, CHASE, CITI, GMAC et al
Wow! This was my argument exactly to a district judge in Mississippi. That judge never even considered my argument and granted summary judgment to BoA, MERS, Fannie Mae, etc. I would love to see how this turns out. Go get ’em, Louisiana!
I note that the law firm views this as a test case. The complaint filed shows the Louisiana court clerks seem to have joined together in this action.
What would be interesting to see is an analysis of this suit to see if it is more likely to progress than some other suits in other states where the clerks were viewed as not being the proper parties to bring suit.
Also, it would be interesting to have an analysis done of which states this type of suit could possibly work in.
In the states where the clerks are not allowed to sue, is there any ability for any appropriate party other than the clerks to bring suit? I presume that normally only the AGs can otherwise bring suit unless somehow a group of citizens can claim to be the ones who have been harmed?
Qui Tam?