The Default Attorney Group (DAG) announced yesterday that its member, Pite Duncan LLP, won the Staffordshire Investments matter in the Oregon Court of Appeals. The published case will limit the liability of servicers facing cases of wrongful foreclosure.

Foreclosure filings for 2006 nearly topped 1 million, a 51-percent increase from 2005, according to numbers from ForeclosureS.com. In the Northeast, foreclosures peaked at 64.6 percent. The region closed the books for 2006 with 96,101 foreclosure filings, up from only 58,394 in 2005.

Keystone Asset Management Inc. (Keystone), announced today that they are expanding company-wide. In order to better service the default industry, Keystone will now assist banks, financial institutions, and other lenders with the increased numbers of non-performing assets.

ProVest, LLC, a process server management company, has recently purchased Universal Default Services, LLC. Over the past two years, our senior management team has been wrestling with how to best scale our business without compromising what makes Universal extraordinary, said Victor G.

CoreLogic announced Monday that significant enhancements have been made to its cascading automated valuations model (AVM) solution, AVMSelect™. The enhancements strengthen AVMSelect’s leadership reputation as a provider of highly reliable automated valuations.

Freddie Mac estimates to have lost $550 million in the third quarter of 2006 as a result of losses on derivatives and credit guarantee assets and obligations. Losses are also expected to be reported for the fourth quarter.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that Deborah Holston will serve as the new director of policy and management. In her new position, Holston will be responsible for all of the department’s programs in the Washington, D.

The IMPACT! Group is teaming up with NeighborWorks Center for Foreclosure Solutions and the Homeownership Preservation Foundation in a national campaign to prevent or reduce the number of foreclosures in the state of Georgia.

Dr. Howard B. Slaughter, director of Fannie Mae’s Pittsburgh Community Center, has been appointed to the Board of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA). In his Fannie Mae role, Slaughter is responsible for overseeing affordable housing investments for six counties.

Jeffrey B. Fisher, founding member of The Fisher Law Group, PLLC, has been selected for the 2007 Maryland and District of Columbia editions of Super Lawyers magazine. The list includes only 5 percent of lawyers within the state.