Plaintiff's Attorney In Wells Fargo "Ghetto Loans" Litigation Pegged To Pursue Similar Suit On Behalf Of City Of Memphis, Shelby County

In Memphis, Tennessee, the Memphis Daily News reports:

• Memphis and Shelby County governments have reloaded in preparation for a high-profile court battle over the area’s foreclosures and the lending practices that accompany them. Relman & Dane PLLC, a Washington-based law firm, is the new outside counsel chosen to work with the two local governments in preparing, filing and litigating a long-delayed federal lawsuit. The firm is replacing a 30-year-old Montgomery, Ala.-based firm originally tapped as outside counsel for the suit, which will target a bevy of national mortgage lenders whose practices may have worsened the local foreclosure problem.

• The choice of Relman & Dane is a sign of local government’s resolve to go after companies for unscrupulous lending practices in Shelby County. The firm, which has racked up wins in several civil rights cases with national scope, also represents the city of Baltimore in its closely watched suit against Wells Fargo(1) over discriminatory lending practices.

• Local officials have pointed to the Baltimore suit several times as a model for what will get filed here. That suit was one of the first in the country by a municipality to seek damages because of foreclosures that allegedly sprang from abusive lending.

For more, see Washington Firm Chosen to Fight Foreclosure Courtroom Battle.

(1) Go here for posts on the City Of Baltimore lawsuit against Wells Fargo, in which some of the lender's employees were accused of using racial slurs to describe minority customers and referred to subprime loans as "ghetto loans."