Friday, November 05, 2010

Four Central Florida Homeowners Seek Class Action Status In Federal Lawsuit Targeting GMAC In Robosigner Scandal

In Tampa, Florida, the St. Petersburg Times reports:
  • Four Tampa Bay area homeowners are suing what used to be GMAC, claiming the company used "robo-signers" to foreclose on their homes illegally. [...] Their $5 million lawsuit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Tampa. It seeks class-action status for "tens of thousands" of Florida homeowners with mortgages serviced by GMAC, now known as Ally Financial.

  • The suit accuses the company of an "abusive, fraudulent, deceptive and unfair scheme" to obtain the plaintiffs' homes "by systematically fabricating evidence in the form of fraudulent affidavits" used in foreclosure cases.

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  • In two of the foreclosures in question, the lawsuit said the affidavits were signed by GMAC executive Jeffrey Stephan, who has testified in a deposition that he signs 6,000 to 10,000 such statements a month. Stephan testified that he spends five to 10 minutes with each file, but the new lawsuit said that's impossible unless he works days 37 to 50 hours long. Rather, it contends Stephan would have to spend less than a minute on each case to keep that pace.

For more, see Tampa Bay homeowners claim GMAC 'robo-signers' drove their foreclosures.