Court Slams Brakes On Suspected Loan Modification Racket's Claim Of Affiliation With Nationally-Recognized Non-Profit To Scam Homeowners In F'closure

Non-Profit Quarterly reports:

• A federal judge has ruled that home loan company First One Lending Corporation may not continue to present itself as affiliated with the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA), which describes itself as “a non-profit, community advocacy and homeownership organization.”
  
  
• NACA was granted a preliminary injunction by U.S. District Judge David Carter. According to the lawsuit filed by NACA, First One has been claiming that it is affiliated with the nonprofit in order to help it “cheat desperate homeowners facing foreclosure.”

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• NACA alleges that First One is charging for a service that NACA provides for free while trying to benefit from the NACA name in the process. According to the injunction ruling, First One is now prohibited from “making a number of specific false or misleading statements it currently uses to perpetuate their deceptive scheme.”
  
  
• We found this passage from Judge Carter’s ruling particularly interesting: “All too frequently, intellectual property disputes between two faceless entities can make the judiciary appear to the public like a mere handmaiden to corporate interests, blessing corporations’ efforts to commodify an ever-growing swath of the nation’s intellectual capital. This case is a refreshing reminder that the policy justification for trademark law is to protect human beings, not corporations.”
  
  
• It’s also a reminder to nonprofits to be on the lookout for those who might seek to use their good name for less than noble purposes.

For the story, see Judge Orders Mortgage Lender to Stop Using Nonprofit’s Name.

See also: Courthouse News Service:

• First One to Stop Using Nonprofit's Good Name,
• Knock It Off, Nonprofit Tells First One Lending.

Go here for:

• the court's 34-page injunction;
• NACA's initial lawsuit.