Tagged: lawsuit

Bias & Discrimination in Reports 11

Bias and Discrimination in Reports, Yes or No?

Appraisers, should we include discussion of B&D in our reports? Wait, What?? Bondage and Discipline? No, not that. Bias and Discrimination. Yes, it must be addressed very clearly. Now, before you blow a cork or throw your mouse at the computer screen, let’s examine what’s really been impacting ‘us’ for the past 4 plus years. One of our peers, who’s become somewhat famous for the way articles are written about appraisal and other topics, had a recent article ‘rebroadcasted’ in AppraisersBlogs, FTX Bought Government’s Silence; Did Fintechs Buy Attacks on Appraisers? A statement in that article exposes some of what has...

Racket at Attorneys General Group Will Ring Familiar to Appraisers 1

Attorneys General Shady Business

Racket at Attorneys General Group Will Ring Familiar to Appraisers The nation’s licensed real property appraisers will recognize a scheme run by a nonprofit known as the National Association of Attorneys General. It will remind the former of the abuses visited on them by a tiny, free-spending 501(c)(3) publisher and its captured federal minder. The National Association of Attorneys General describes itself as a nonpartisan national forum for America’s state and territory attorneys general and their staff members. The group has close ties with trial lawyers, who bring tort cases on behalf of the states’ top law enforcement officers and...

Lender Liability for a Negligent Appraisal? 12

Lender Liability for a Negligent Appraisal?

Does a mortgage lender have liability to the borrower for a negligent appraisal?  As residential property prices plateau or decline in various markets and as borrowers have financial problems with fewer financing options, there are more legal claims being filed by borrowers against appraisers and lenders in relation to appraisals for loans made in recent years. Essentially, the cases are situations of “buyer-borrower remorse.” Leaving aside the appraiser’s potential liability, does a mortgage lender have liability to the borrower for a negligent appraisal? An Ohio appellate court recently said “no.” It ruled that the lender did not owe the borrower...

Appraiser Bias Allegations Unmask Nonbank Lenders Debt Traps 10

Appraiser Bias Allegations Unmask Debt Traps

Claims of tainted appraisal unmask something else… the renewed “churning” of mortgages by nonbank lenders. Convinced racism torpedoed valuations in their home refinancings, the owners of three properties in the San Francisco Bay Area told their stories to Julian Glover, a reporter who covers the race, culture and social justice beat for ABC’s San Francisco affiliate. Similar claims of tainted appraisals have surfaced in Philadelphia, Chicago and, more recently, Maryland. A civil lawsuit was filed in one of the cases in a federal district court. A claim was dismissed Wednesday based on a flaw unrelated to the case’s core allegation...

Baltimore Racial Bias Lawsuit 12

Baltimore Racial Bias Lawsuit

When reading over the Baltimore document, it appears painfully clear (to me) that there is a competency issue exposed. Folks, below is the Baltimore court paperwork for the latest appraiser bias suit that recently ‘hit the fan.’ This document is fairly specific, in that it reveals quite a lot about the two appraisals performed, including the home locations for the ‘comps’ used. The attorneys representing the plaintiffs are from the same Washington, D.C. firm that The Appraisal Foundation hired to examine USPAP. That firm was the one which has provided new ‘discrimination avoidance’ verbiage being considered in the USPAP Third...

Appraiser Miller Wins Claim in Racial Discrimination Lawsuit 27

Appraiser Miller Wins

Appraiser Miller wins important claim in racial discrimination lawsuit. Judge ruled Plaintiffs did not rely on Miller’s appraisal. The other claims continue but this was an important claim. It also shows the Plaintiffs lied to the Court. ORDER GRANTING MILLER DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT; DISMISSING PLAINTIFFS’ SEVENTH CLAIM FOR RELIEF AS ASSERTED AGAINST MILLER DEFENDANTS; VACATING HEARING. In their Seventh Claim for Relief, 2 plaintiffs allege the Miller Defendants negligently misrepresented “that they were providing an unbiased appraisal of [the Austins’ house],” and that the Austins “reasonably relied” on such representations “in attempting to secure a mortgage...

Justice for Texas Appraiser? You Bet. Price Tag: $99,000 9

Justice for Texas Appraiser? You Bet. Price Tag: $99,000

The Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board is a hot mess, but one with a malicious and callous streak. That makes it dangerous to licensees. The Unclean Hands Doctrine is a legal defense. It helps prevent petitioners who are engaged in fraud, deceit or bad faith from recovering certain damages from others. If you’re a known cattle rustler yourself, the Unclean Hands defense may keep you from recovering damages if your own cattle go missing. It’s also sometimes called the “Clean Hands Doctrine” or the “Dirty Hands Doctrine.” Based on this doctrine, the feculent fingers of the Texas Appraiser Licensing...

Appraiser Will Help Expose Occupational Licensing Abuses Nationwide 13

Exposing Occupational Licensing Abuses Nationwide

She went from viewing occupational licensing as a necessary means to protect the safety and welfare of the public to a cynical tool promoted by established businesses to erect barriers against innovation and competition. Her experience as a licensed real property appraiser in West Virginia turned out to be the perfect training ground for the study of public corruption, restraint of trade and government overreach. Who would have thought it? After 27 years of being whipsawed by West Virginia’s notorious appraiser-licensing apparatus, the Appraisal Foundation – and the latter’s continually changing copyrighted standards – and a complicit federal monitor, Lori...

Floor Plans Could Be an Issue in Appraising 12

Floor Plans Could Be an Issue in Appraising

…concerns that appraisers could be sued for making floor plans of a home… I’m an AI “member” (because I pay membership dues) even though I’m not supposed to say it that way. Technically, I am an Appraisal Institute Practicing Affiliate. Regardless, an AI email earlier on 6/29/22 had this news: Supreme Court Rejects Floor Plan Case; Appraisers Vulnerable The Supreme Court on June 27 rejected a case involving the use of floor plans in marketing materials. Multiple real estate firms petitioned the court to review the case, contending the Eighth Circuit incorrectly ruled that using floor plans in marketing materials...

Corrupt West Virginia Occupational Licensing Board Scheming Ends 9

West Virginia Appraisal Board Scheme

The Doomed Quest to Reform a corrupt West Virginia Licensing Board “Board members earn money working for a law firm that files lawsuits against appraisers,” said one West Virginia appraiser… Readers of DC Comics will be familiar with Bizarro World, a cube-shaped planet that is home to a weirdly inverted version of reality. The planet is governed by the Bizarro Code, whose ungrammatical main tenet is, “Us do opposite of all Earthly things!” But “Bizarro World” doesn’t nearly describe a scheme in which a West Virginia occupational licensing board has joined hands with a law firm that has managed to...

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