Week Adjourned: 11.06.09

Home Appraisals anyone's guess with price fixingTop Class Actions

Business Ethics 2009: “Conspiring to Manipulate”—it’s sort of the theme in this week’s class actions…read on… 

Homeowners High-Jacked on Home Appraisals? A Central Florida homeowner forced into foreclosure has filed a class-action lawsuit against KB Home, Countrywide Financial and LandSafe Appraisal Services.

The allegations? Price-fixing, in a nutshell, or “conspiring to manipulate.” The suit claims that the three companies conspired to rig housing prices in Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina, costing home purchasers millions of dollars, and fueling the collapse of the region’s housing market. That’s no mean feat. 

The companies managed this, allegedly, by using a well-planned scheme to control the typically independent appraisal process, jacking up home values, which, in turn, were used to determine the value of other homes sold by KB, affecting thousands of homeowners. 

If you live in Florida, South Carolina or North Carolina and used Countrywide and LandSafe Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 11.06.09”