Mortgage fraud rocks Fifth Third Bank
A multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme involving pricey homes in Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham has resulted in a half-dozen firings and resignations at Fifth Third Bank, according to court documents.The alleged scheme involved a conspiracy among bank employees, appraisers, title companies, and others.

First Magnus says inflated appraisals have cost it more than $1 million
An Arizona mortgage company has sued six businesses and 28 individuals, alleging they conducted a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud in the Kansas City area.The 82-page civil lawsuit by First Magnus Financial Corp. detailed a scheme that it said relied on intentionally inflated appraisals, false borrower information, stolen identities of legitimate estate appraisers and false appraiser names.

South Texas development battles are heading to court more often
Wrob is part of a growing number of city officials and residents who spoke out against real estate projects by San Antonio developers "€” and were then sued by the developers when the deals soured... In another lawsuit filed Aug. 17 in Bexar County, developers Schaefer and Earl made similar allegations against more than two dozen residents and city officials, most of whom fought a proposal to provide tax incentives for a large development in Del Rio near Laughlin AFB...Homebuilders occasionally have sued customers who publicly complained about what they said was shoddy workmanship. And Schaefer hasn't hesitated to sue city officials whom he disagrees with "€” he's filed more than a dozen lawsuits against San Antonio over housing projects..."This guy is not only shooting himself in the foot," McIlwain said, "he's also shooting himself in the knee and the left arm."

Group Releases Consumer Scorecard of Texas Supreme Court Justices
Court Watch reviewed each of the 110 opinions issued by the Court during the 2005-2006 term, 69 of which are classified as consumer cases.  Court Watch determined how often each justice sided with consumers.  With just a 39% record of voting in favor of consumers, Justice Harriet O'Neill had the Court's highest consumer score.  Meanwhile, Justice Don Willett had the lowest rate with a miniscule 11%.  The average pro-consumer score was a paltry 22%.

Builder sends threat of lawsuit to critics
The residents said the letters came after they publicly criticized last month a 1.3-mile berm and a 4-foot fence around Tallgrass subdivision, a 110-acre development near Kelsey, Miller and River Roads.The letter from attorneys with Lord Bissell & Brook LLP states potential claims "for commercial disparagement, defamation, interference with prospective economic advantage, and tortuous interference with contract."..."They are intimidating the people that are standing up and speaking about this," Schnack said.

Legal Tales Stranger than Fiction: I Sue, You Sue, We all Sue
Legal Tales Stranger than Fiction: Last month, the Hiratas posted complaints about Sitterle on the website Home Owners for Better Building.  Sitterle filed a defamation suit, charging that "tens of thousands" of people could have read the comments and the company's reputation could be harmed. View Photos of Colonel Hirate and wife Joy and Courtroom photo of Frank Sitterle Jr. of Sitterle Homes and MORE..

Sitterle Homebuilder Sues Active Duty Army Colonel
Sitterle filed a libel suit against the homeowner this week, accusing him of writing defamatory statements on a consumer advocacy Web site about the company's alleged refusal to fix leak problems in the hillside home...Last month, Jay Hirata posted complaints about the builder on the discussion board of a San Antonio-based consumer advocacy group's Web site, Home Owners for Better Building.  See posted complaint.  Read more: Express News Report... Press Release: Trial Begins  View Photos of Colonel Hirate and wife Joy and Courtroom photo of Frank Sitterle Jr. of Sitterle Homes and MORE...

Customer Sued By San Antonio Builder on Libel Allegations
Janet Ahmad, head of the Web site that posted Hirata's comments, said Sitterle is trying to suppress Hirata's free speech rights and held a news conference of her own Thursday afternoon.

Customer Sued By San Antonio Builder on Libel Allegations
The San Antonio-based Sitterle Corp. this week sued homeowner Army Col. Jay Hirata and asked for $500,000 in damages. That's more than the price of a new home in Hirata's Emerald Forest, an upscale gated community on San Antonio's North Side, where homes range from the $300,000s to the $400,000s.

Straight out of the "man bites dog" category a builder sues a homeowner.

Builder Online - The Information Source for the Home Building Industry
Customer Sued By San Antonio Builder on Libel Allegations - Here's something that doesn't happen every day: a home builder suing one of its customers...Sitterle filed a libel suit against the homeowner this week, accusing him of writing defamatory statements on a consumer advocacy Web site... Last month, Jay Hirata posted complaints about the builder on the discussion board of a San Antonio-based consumer advocacy group's Web site, Home Owners for Better Building...The Sitterle defamation lawsuit, filed this week, says "tens of thousands" of people could have read those comments and that the company's reputation has been harmed...For the Hiratas, the legal battle is putting a crimp in their relocation plans. Jay Hirata is now stationed in Spain and had to take military leave to return to San Antonio to deal with the lawsuits.  Read more

Monday Morning Mold (Mycology) - October 2, 2006

NPR - Texas Homebuilder Perry's Money and Political Influence
Since 2000, no one in Texas has contributed more money to political campaigns than Homebuilder Bob Perry, and have average nearly $4M in contributions in a given election cycle to Texas candidates. Perry's main interest has been Tort Reform to limit liability for the homebuilding industry. In Texas he led a campaign to actually regulate the home buying public. To create an agency here in Texas that hinders homebuyers from getting warranty work done.  So, a warranty is no longer enforceable in the state of Texas . That is coming to the rest of the country.  So I believe…that if the wealthy Texas based homebuilders are able to limit liability in Texas that they are also influencing the political arena in other states to do the same thing. Click to listen

Contractor Leaves Couple In Debt With Unfinished Home
Shortly after a Mount Washington couple celebrated the birth of their new baby girl, they expected to move into a new home they were building. Instead, they had to move in with relatives where they've been for more than a year, with thousands of dollars tied up in a home they can't use. WAVE 3 Troubleshooter Charla Young investigates the contractor they say led them to this limbo.

ABC News: Don't Be Victimized by Predatory Lenders
Predatory Lenders Can Ruin Your Credit Rating and Force You to Overpay for Your Home.  As the housing market sours or softens "€” whatever you want to call it "€” some Americans are finding that they overpaid for their homes, and they're struggling to make their monthly mortgage payments. They claim they can rescue you with too-good-to-be-true loans, but those loans turn out to be abusive. If buying a home is the American dream, then predatory lending is the American nightmare.