Judge Declines Imposing Sanctions On Countrywide & Lawyers, Despite Unprofessional, Unethical Conduct

The New York Times reports:

• The Countrywide Financial Corporation, the largest American mortgage lender, did not show “bad faith” in the handling of a Texas homeowner’s mortgage and will not be sanctioned merely for unprofessional and unethical conduct, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday. Countrywide and two law firms it used showed “a disregard for the professional and ethical obligations of the legal profession and judicial system,” Judge Jeff Bohm of Federal District Court said in ruling on a request by a Justice Department official to consider punishing the company for its conduct. But to impose sanctions, Judge Bohm wrote, he would have had to find “clear and convincing evidence of conduct that is in bad faith, vexatious, wanton or undertaken for oppressive reasons.”

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• “In Texas, homesteads are sacrosanct,” the judge said in a ruling that traced how Countrywide’s corporate culture led to mistakes including a failure to properly record some payments made by [a Texas homeowner]. [...] The judge also found fault with the law firms, saying their flat-fee rate had led to a “corrosive ‘assembly line’ culture of practicing law.”

For more, see Judge Lectures Countrywide but Decides Not to Punish It in Texas Mortgage Case.

See also, Reuters: US judge won't punish Countrywide for botched case.

To view the court ruling, in which the presiding bankruptcy judge carefully rips apart Countrywide & their attorneys (probably "must reading" for anyone who believes they were screwed over by Countrywide or any other loan servicer), see:

• In re: William Allen Parsley - Part I,
• In re: William Allen Parsley - Part II.

Go here for more on recent Countrywide problems with consumers.

For an article examining mortgage companies frequent non-compliance with law in consumer bankruptcy cases, see Misbehavior and Mistake in Bankruptcy Mortgage Claims, by Katherine M. Porter University of Iowa - College of Law.