Oakland Settles Suit Charging Lender, Subsidiaries, Real Estate Agents With Illegal Foreclosure Evictions

From the Office of the City Attorney for Oakland, California:

• A City of Oakland lawsuit accusing JPMorgan Chase Bank of wrongfully evicting tenants from foreclosed homes has been settled. The lawsuit was one of five filed by the city in recent months accusing banks, their subsidiaries and several local real estate agents of violating an Oakland law that protects tenants from unjust evictions.(1)

• In February and March of this year, Oakland’s Neighborhood Law Corps filed the lawsuits against JPMorgan Chase and Fidelity National Financial, along with their subsidiary companies and the local agents who are paid to remove tenants from properties the banks have acquired through foreclosure.

• Tenants in foreclosed homes and apartments provided numerous examples of improper eviction notices served by those agents. Oakland’s "Just Cause" ordinance allows landlords to evict tenants for specific reasons such as failing to pay rent or damaging property. However, foreclosure is not a "just cause" for eviction under the city’s law.

• JPMorgan Chase agreed to a settlement that includes a $35,000 payment to the city. The settlement also includes an example of a legal notice that banks can use to determine the occupancy of a foreclosed property in Oakland. "Evictions resulting from the foreclosure crisis continue to cause extraordinary hardship for working families here in Oakland and across California," City Attorney John Russo said. "I congratulate JPMorgan Chase and other defendants for quickly stepping up to settle these lawsuits and for recognizing the law in Oakland. We hope these settlements send a strong message to other banks and agents who do business in our community."

• Russo also praised real estate agents Joseph McNulty and Percy Cheung, the first defendants to agree to settlements.(2) The City Attorney’s Office is in settlement negotiations with other defendants named in the complaints.

For the Oakland City Attorney press release, see Oakland reaches settlement with JPMorgan Chase on eviction lawsuit.

Go here for other posts on illegal foreclosure evictions in violation of Oakland, California's Just Cause Ordinance.

(1) For more from the Oakland City Attorney's Office on these illegal foreclosure eviction lawsuits, see:

• Press Release: Oakland City Attorney sues major banks, local agents to stop illegal evictions and abuse of tenants’ rights;
• Lawsuit against: JPMorgan Chase, Chase Home Finance, EMC, etc.,
• Lawsuit against: Fidelity National Financial, etc.,
• Lawsuit against: Keller Williams, etc.,
• Lawsuit against: Session Real Estate,
• Lawsuit against: Smart Choice Realty, etc.
• Examples of Wrongful Eviction Notices,
• City Attorney's Guideline for Tenants' Rights in Foreclosed Housing.

(2) According to a San Francisco Chronicle report, Joseph McNulty will pay $3,000 and Percy Cheung of Smart Choice Realty will pay $2,500, said Alex Katz, spokesman for City Attorney John Russo.