Through a request for a ""preliminary injunction"":http://www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/GMACPreliminaryInjunction filed Friday in the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray is seeking to prevent ""GMAC Mortgage LLC"":http://www.gmacmortgage.com from completing foreclosure sales in his state that he says are based on faulty affidavits.
[IMAGE]Cordray ""filed suit October 6th"":http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/GMACAllySuit against GMAC; its parent, ""Ally Financial Inc."":http://www.ally.com; and one of its employees, Jeffrey Stephan, the servicing exec that started the ball rolling when he testified in a sworn deposition that he was signing off on foreclosures right and left without checking the paperwork for accuracy or signing the documents in the presence of a notary.
According to the lawsuit, GMAC and its employees committed fraud on Ohio consumers and Ohio courts by
[COLUMN_BREAK]signing and filing at least hundreds and potentially thousands of false affidavits in foreclosure cases. The preliminary injunction asks that GMAC stop its ""faulty affidavit practices"" while the lawsuit is pending, according to a ""statement from Cordray's office"":http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov.
""These so-called 'robo-signed' affidavits disrespect the courts and the private property rights of homeowners,"" Cordray said. ""As we seek to uncover the extent to which GMAC used such tactics, we are taking this action today to make sure that these faulty affidavits are no longer used in foreclosure proceedings.""
GMAC says that after reviewing foreclosure documentation for nearly two months now, so far, the company has ""found no evidence"":http://dsnews.comarticles/gmac-finds-no-evidence-of-improper-foreclosures-expands-review-to-50-states-2010-10-12 of improper or unlawful foreclosures. The ""lender suspended"":http://dsnews.comarticles/gmac-calls-news-of-its-foreclosure-moratorium-untrue-speculation-2010-09-20 foreclosure actions and REO sales on September 20th in states where courts oversee homeowner evictions and property repossessions, including Ohio.
Cordray joined forces with attorneys general in every other state and the District of Columbia this week to ""launch a nationwide investigation"":http://dsnews.comarticles/all-states-to-take-part-in-coordinated-foreclosure-investigation-2010-10-13 of the mortgage servicing industry, prompted by widespread reports of robo-signers deep within lenders' servicing departments that have been rubber-stamping approvals in order to push foreclosures through quickly.
Cordray said ""at that time"":http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Briefing-Room/News-Releases/October-2010/Ohio-Joins-Multi-State-Investigation-of-Foreclosur that the multi-state probe does not affect Ohio's lawsuit against GMAC and parent Ally.