Pam Bondi Wins Florida Yet Another Multi-Million Dollar Settlement Against Mortgage Company

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi today announced that her office, and that of 46 other attorneys general, has reached a settlement of over $120 million with Lender Processing Services, Inc. and its subsidiaries, LPS Default Solutions and DocX, after an investigation led by her office.

Bondi's office had alleged that the Jacksonville-based company, which primarily provides technological support to banks and mortgage loan servicers, robo-signed documents and engaged in other improper conduct related to mortgage loan default servicing. The settlement requires LPS and its subsidiaries to reform its business practices and, if necessary, to correct documents it executed to assist homeowners. Floridas share of settlement is approximately $8.6 million, according to a release from Bondi's office.

This settlement reflects the efforts of the states to work together to remedy the widespread abuses occurring in the residential mortgage industry in the past few years, Bondi said in the press release. The proposed judgment holds LPS and its subsidiaries accountable and requires reforms that ensure the proper handling of residential mortgage-related documents.

Among other things, the consent judgment will require proper execution of documents and prohibit signature by unauthorized persons or those without first-hand knowledge of facts attested to in the documents, enhanced oversight of the default services provided, and a review of all third-party fees to ensure that the fees have been earned and are reasonable and accurate.

In the proposed settlement, LPS admits to important facts uncovered in the investigation, including the practice by Doc X of so-called surrogate signing, the signing of documents by an unauthorized person in the name of another and notarizing those documents as if they had been signed by the proper person, as well as other improprieties in the document execution and recordation or filing process.

According to the same release, the following states joined Florida in todays settlement: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia.