Legal News

How can appraisers stay out of the legal line of fire?

Valuation Review continues its conversation with Franklin Law Group attorney Craig Capilla, who shared keen legal insights appraisers should pay attention to.

Read Part II of this feature for more legal advice.

The national law firm of Baron & Budd announced that it has secured a certified plaintiff class action federal lawsuit against Countrywide Financial Corp. and its successor, Bank of America. The case accuses the bank and appraisal firm, LandSafe Inc., of conducting “sham” appraisals to boost the number of loans originated by Countrywide. Read on to learn more about this case.

How can appraisers stay out of the legal line of fire?

Valuation Review reached out to Franklin Law Group attorney Craig Capilla for some guidance appraisers can follow to remain both legal and compliant when mapping out valuation strategy.

Read on to learn what we were told.

A Bexar County, Texas jury awarded HouseCanary a $706.2 million verdict, saying that Amrock Inc. had misappropriated HouseCanary’s technology for real estate valuation and appraisal analytics.

The verdict included $235 million in damages for misappropriation and $471 million more in punitive damages.

Read on for details of the case and reaction from both sides, including news of an expected appeal.

At the Appraisal Summit & Expo in Las Vegas, LIA Administrators & Insurance Services General Counsel Peter Christensen told the audience what legal traps await appraisers and how to avoid them.

Valuation Review was in attendance to hear this legal presentation.

Read Part II of this feature for more information. 

At the Appraisal Summit & Expo in Las Vegas, LIA Administrators & Insurance Services General Counsel Peter Christensen told the audience about what legal traps await appraisers and how to avoid them.

Valuation Review was in attendance to hear this legal presentation.

Read on for a briefing.

At the 2017 American Society of Appraisers conference in Houston, Valuation Review spoke with a panel of experts regarding appraisal reviews.

They spoke from the platform concerning the financial statement audit perspective and litigation.

Read Part II of this feature to find out more information.

At the 2017 American Society of Appraisers conference in Houston, Valuation Review spoke with a panel of experts who addressed appraisal reviews from a financial statement audit perspective and litigation.

What should appraisers know from a legal standpoint as it pertains to reviews?

Read on to find out what they told the conference attendees.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago has charged two suburban mortgage brokers with fraudulently operating a purportedly independent appraisal management company to control property valuations.

Charges also include brokering fraudulent loans to finance real estate transactions between themselves and nominees.

Read on for more details of this case.

A year-long, $25 million lawsuit filed against Alachua County’s property appraiser, tax collector, clerk of the court and a number of their employees have been thrown out by a judge. Read on for more details of this case.