Wells Fargo / ASC
Friday, September 18, 2009
Cal. Court of Appeals reduces jury punitive damages award against Wells Fargo
September 7, 2009
Fisher v. Wells Fargo: $750k Punitive Damages Award is ExcessiveThe California Court of Appeal (Fourth District, Division Two) issued this unpublished opinion last week, reducing a punitive damages award from $750,000 to $150,000 in a case involving $15,000 in compensatory damages.
The opinion is not particularly noteworthy, although it does illustrate that in cases involving small compensatory damages, California appellate courts will often allow a higher than normal ratio of punitive damages to compensatory damages, but not as high as 50 to 1.
This case involves the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which authorizes punitive damages for willful violations of the act. The jury found that the defendant, Wells Fargo, willfully violated the act by providing false information to TransUnion about plaintiff’s credit and failing to conduct a complete investigation when plaintiff complained.
Wells Fargo appealed and the Court of Appeal rejected its argument that the record contained no evidence of a willful violation. But the court agreed with Wells Fargo that punitive damages award was excessive. The court said the defendant’s conduct was low on the “hierarchy of reprehensibleness” because it involved purely economic harm, did not reflect an indifference to health or safety, did not involve repeat offenses, and did not involve intentional malice, trickery, or deceit. The court also noted that the plaintiff failed to present evidence that it was financially vulnerable. I can’t think of any other opinions off the top of my head which have squarely held that plaintiffs have the burden of establishing their financial vulnerability for purposes of analyzing the reprehensibility of the defendant’s conduct.
Discussing the issue of ratio, the court held that the 50-to-1 ratio in this case, like any ratio in excess of single digits, is presumptively suspect. The court stated that ratios in excess of single digits are sometimes permissible when the compensatory damages are unusually small, but the court did not view the $15,000 award in this case as small enough to warrant a larger ratio. The court nevertheless concluded that a 10-to-1 ratio would be permissible. Ordinarily such a high ratio would be reserved for only the most extremely reprehensible conduct, but the court allowed the high ratio presumably because of the relatively small amount of punitive damages.
And that shows EXACTLY what’s wrong with the American judicial system. The jury understood how devastating false credit reporting is. The judges are clueless idiots who never have to worry about how to pay their bills—WE pay their bills.
The judges are set for LIFE.
And THAT needs to change. The judges should be people who WORK for a living and who know what it means to have your electricity shut off. But of course that IS why we have a jury of our peers and not a bunch of scummy executives and judges.
Wells Fargo is once again laughing all the way to the bank.
Legal • Credit - Collection - Economic News • Wells Fargo / ASC • (0) Comments • Permalink
Monday, May 21, 2007
More ASC servicing, escrow and repayment plan problems
I have been battling ASC for some time now, and after reading your website, I have realized that I am not alone, in fact I seem to the same problem as patty black minus the foreclosure notices.
I have not pursued anything for I wasn’t aware of what I could do. The only paperwork that I have received from ASC ever since they acquired my loan has been bills and late notices. When they acquired my loan the conveniently forgot to add the escrow, insurance, and taxes into my payments.
When I was finally able top get ASC in touch with my insurance agency they (ASC) billed me the full amount of the insurance $880 along with the new “adjusted” payment. I also missed 1 or 2 payments and tried the repayment plan, but no mention of anything in writing and when I went to pay 1 day late they ignored the fact that I was on this repayment plan saying that it is cancelled after being late.
Now then where is the $500 that I paid being applied to? It was not in the bill as a payment, and I was stupid enough to do this twice! So now they have $1000 of my money that has not been applied anywhere to my account. Do you have any knowledge of a class action suit against them or know anything I could do about this cancer among mortgage companies? Thank you, ...
Your extra payments with the monthly payment are most likely going to your escrow account for FUTURE insurance and tax.
And you should definitely RECORD all phone calls and FOLLOW UP in writing with a CALL SUMMARY if they refuse to provide a written payment plan.
CONTINUE to make the payments under the plan if you can’t bring the loan current with a lump sum payment. Make the payments so you have PROOF of payment, either online or mail a check with delivery confirmation.
And request your accounting as per RESPA
You read Patti’s postings, didn’t you see the RESPA topic and the sample accounting requrest?
As I probably posted already 20 times, if people don’t take advantage of every legal right, they are likely to lose their homes or at least have their credit destroyed. ONLY if YOU prepare your case and YOU ensure that you have slam dunk legal claims do you have a slight chance of finding a competent lawyer to take your case on contingency.
Review your credit reports and dispute all INCORRECT lates related to this mortgage after they received your accounting request.
Payments have to be 30 days late before they can be reported to CRAs, but they COULD begin foreclosure proceedings if you are only 1 day late. People often think that they have the RIGHT to pay late because lenders can’t even charge a late fee during the grace period, but you are in violation of the contract as soon as a payment isn’t received by the due date.
Often lenders report the mortgages as late WHILE on a repayment plan.
I haven’t seen any litigation over this, but if you MODIFY an agreement and you comply with it, you obviously should NOT be reported as late while you make the payments according to the new agreement.
I also have a client with similar ASC problems, apparently they frequently do not set up escrow accounts after the loans are transferred to them. We are currently awaiting accounting to see where the $2,500 escrow balance from the PREVIOUS lender went.
Good luck!
DONATION • Wells Fargo / ASC • (0) Comments • Permalink
Friday, January 06, 2006
Reader mail: Wells Fargo foreclosure
Christine:
It is with ‘a nod of my head’ that I read all the ‘interesting’ situations with Wells Fargo. We are going through the same. They have actually foreclosed without trying to work something out with us, despite the number of times I have called - a different representative each time - now we are offering them more than the full price of the house and still, they refuse to accept the offer.
Everyone in the mortgage industry, lawyers all say ‘Mortgage companies do not like to foreclose’ - that is a lot of crap. Here we are trying to repurchase the home and they (Wells) refuse to accept - and we are even offering more than what the house is worth to include some of the fees incurred by their attorneys. Why won’t they accept the offer. Where am I to go with 9 kids? We are qualified for a new mortgage - even Wells Fargo pre approved us for another mortgage...get that one.
Any avenues or ideas or information you know that could be of help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
File the lawsuit if you have any legal claims, hopefully you did MORE than make phone calls and hopefully you have LEGAL claims for FCRA and RESPA violations.
Wells Fargo doesn’t HAVE to sell to you - if you didn’t make your payments, they had the right to foreclose and they can do with the property as they please.
“They have actually foreclosed without trying to work something out with us, despite the number of times I have called “
They don’t have to work anything out.
There is this widespread misconception that lenders have an obligation to make sure that borrowers and their kids have a place to live and that’s just not so.
Why didn’t you just make the payments?
You can’t go through life counting on OTHERS to care of your kids. And if you CHOOSE to have 9 kids and then you can’t make your mortgage payments, what on earth are you thinking? Ever heard of a condom?
Having kids and buying a house comes with RESPONSIBILITIES.
I know that this is NOT what you want to hear, but there are so MANY people subjected to WRONGFUL foreclosures and the lenders defraud them out of their homes, I really have little sympathy for people who think the world revolves around them and their kids.
I am a little perplexed because you obviously are well educated and unlike many others, you know how to write and spell. Maybe I’m missing something.
My advice based on what you wrote: Accept responsibility for your actions, don’t get a loan for more than you can afford, make sure you UNDERSTAND the terms of the new loan, COUNT on that rainy day, you WILL get sick, you WILL lose your job—shit happens to everybody.
I can’t imagine what kind of loan you get pre-approved for when you just were foreclosed on, that in itself is absurd.
Your credit must be destroyed!
Obviously, since you’ve been reading at my sites, I suppose at Fight Back Your lawsuits - Wells Fargo - Americas Servicing Company (ASC) - others—learn from your and others’ mistakes and stop making those phone calls. If you have an issue, put it in writing and make it a LEGAL and FACTUAL issue, not a sob story.
Reader mail • Wells Fargo / ASC • (11) Comments • Permalink
Monday, December 26, 2005
Wells Fargo converts ATM cards into credit cards without asking?
From Fight Back:
Wells Fargo turned my ATM card into a CREDIT CARD without asking me
I need help!!! Wells Fargo turned my ATM card into a credit card without asking me. I never signed anything or requested anything. Then all of a sudden I began getting a credit card bill saying I owed all this money. Every time I withdrew money with my ATM card it was drawing from some account they never told me about. I didn’t notice, but it added up to almost $2000 before I realized what was going on. They charged me all sorts of fees and interest. I’ve spent hours on the phones with their extremely rude and incompetent customer service people. I’ve written letters to the president of Wells Fargo, and even received an apology from them. But still they say I owe them all this money. They essentially stole my identity, wasted my valuable time, and I have to pay for it? Now they are ruining my credit. I know this has to have happened to others and I want to start a class action law suit. If there is anyone out there who can help or give me advice please please contact me. Thank you so much.
Since I didn’t get a reply to my posting, I thought I’d repost here. I’ve never heard of WF converting ATM cards and if it’s true, I’m sure someone will post a comment confirming this here.
It really pisses me off when people ask for help, I take the time to contact an attorney, the attorney writes to the reader, who then has the audacity to ignore his e-mail!
I decided to disable posting for new members at the Fight Back forum today. I’ve really had enough of the whiners, complainers and idiots, the BS, the lies ...
I’m so busy my head is spinning and I’ll focus on my lawsuits at Credit Litigation.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Reader mail: Wells Fargo running credit for BENEFICIARY
Dear Christine,
I found your website by doing a google search after Wells Fargo ran unauthorized credit inquiries on me.
I want to thank you for putting the information out there.
In my case, Wells Fargo clearly broke the law. I was added to my mother’s Wells Fargo accounts as a BENEFICIARY and not a signer back in 2002 after my father died. No reports were run on me at that time. In late 2004 my Mother reconfigured her investment accounts (at the suggestion of her Wells Fargo personal banker) and then added me as beneficiary again. I discovered that Wells Fargo ran TWO inquiries on me, a month apart, without my consent. When I contacted the branch where my Mom has her accounts, the branch manager REFUSED to help me. I finally contacted Equifax and they removed the inquiries for me.
With the help of your website and the letters you wrote, I was able to write them my own letter and they are settling with me on this matter.
These people should not be getting away with this crap!!! Thank you again for fighting for the little people like me out there.[name deleted]
She probably read Wells Fargo: SETTLED for $1,000 + deletion of UNAUTHORIZED inquiry —how I got one of my first credit related settlement checks.
It’s nice to get those mails, hundreds of readers got their checks!
And that’s proof that NOT ALL people are incompetent morons, quite a few are capable of standing up for their rights.
Those STATUTORY damages are wonderful and we should have minimum damages for all consumer protection laws.
We’ve also done well with FDCPA settlements as we can get up to $1,000 in statutory damages and I REALLY wish I could say the same for RESPA violations.
Attorneys don’t like RESPA because of LIMITED damages and it has in fact been written to protect the lenders. However, for a pro se consumer, $1,000 for statutory damages isn’t bad - especially when money is tight and as a bonus, you get to keep your home!
“(B) any additional damages, as the court may allow, in the case of a pattern or practice of noncompliance with the requirements of this section, in an amount not to exceed $1,000.”
How hard can it be to show a pattern?
I’m so incredibly disgusted with the whining “victims” and corrupt lawyers at the mortgage servicing fraud forums, I could smack them till they’re toothless!
They have the audacity to tell people to not try to prevent foreclosures so that they HAVE substantial damages, making it more worthwhile for lawyers. Thing is, very few people actually can find an attorney to take the case on contingency and if so, ONLY the lawyers make big bucks—I’ve never seen a check to a consumer. The scum that is allowed to post at these forums ...
It is so easy to prevent foreclosures due to the rampant mortgage servicing accounting fraud, but I don’t have a mortgage - so I can’t show people how to do this. And not being a lawyer, I just don’t have the time to volunteer to help others with legal filings, since I obviously can’t get paid and it takes a lot of time to research court rules in other states.
Why isn’t there just ONE lawyer willing help a few people along and post what happens?
So many people got their checks for these credit inquiries, is it harder getting paid for lenders’ refusals to provide accounting statements and reporting disputed lates?
