Trial Attorney Rogge Dunn Targets Lenders With Class-Action Lawsuits

Trial attorney Rogge Dunn has filed two class-action lawsuits against lenders alleging violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, negligent misrepresentation and gross negligence against Texas homeowners.

Filed in state court in Dallas County, the lawsuits target loanDepot and Cardinal Financial, Rogge Dunn Group said in a Wednesday (Dec. 13) press release.

Reached by PYMNTS, a loanDepot spokesperson declined to comment on the report, saying the firm does not comment on pending litigation.

Cardinal Financial did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

According to the lawsuit, the lenders provided financial services to hundreds of thousands of individuals, induced them into entering refinancing agreements in which the lenders encouraged the borrowers to skip the first one or two payments on the new loan, and required the borrowers to pay added interest over the course of the loan, the release said.

The filing alleges the companies “made promises and representations, and/or failed to provide important and relevant information to plaintiffs and the other members of the class relative to the transactions,” per the release.

It further alleges that the lenders never disclosed to the borrowers the negative results of the “skipped” payments and benefited by tens of millions of dollars, according to the release.

“When you trust big companies with expertise and industry knowledge, you expect them to be honest and give sound advice,” Dunn said in the release. “Instead, [loanDepot] and Cardinal Financial used their position to exploit homeowners to their own benefit.”

In other recent news around lending, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said in November that it ordered Bank of America to pay $12 million for submitting incomplete mortgage lending data to the federal government.

Reached for comment, a Bank of America spokesperson provided PYMNTS with an emailed statement saying that the bank properly collected demographic data in 99% of applications in the years reviewed by the CFPB and that the percentage of applicants not disclosing their race was lower than the industry average.

In March, the CFPB said that states can continue extending disclosure laws covering lending to businesses. Such state laws are not inconsistent with or preempted by the federal Truth in Lending Act, the regulator said at the time.