In rapid fire succession, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio has issued another important decision on the subject of RESPA Section 8 class claims. This time it involves the matter styled Toldy v. Fifth Third Mortgage Company, Case No. 1:09 CV 377 and the activities of Fifth Third Bank's wholly-owned title subsidiary known as Vista Settlement Services, Inc.
As the embedded decision suggests, Toldy closed a refinance loan through Fifth Third Bank's Vista Settlement Services which was selected as the settlement agent for the transaction. Toldy argues in the class action complaint that Vista Settlement paid a kickback to Fifth Third Financial incident to the referral of business in violation of RESPA.
Fifth Third Bank filed for summary judgment to dispose of the case. Judge Lesley Wells denied the motion citing the fact that there remains a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Vista's payment was a prohibited "thing of value" under RESPA Section 8(a).
The complete copy of the decision is found below.
