By Mark Basch, Daily Record Contributing Writer
Lender Processing Services Inc. announced last month that it has agreed to pay $127 million to settle complaints by the attorneys general of 46 states and the District of Columbia over the company’s role in the nationwide foreclosure mess.
Jacksonville-based LPS provides processing services for mortgage lenders for all phases of a home loan, including foreclosure when the loan goes bad.
The company has been under investigation for three years by federal and state authorities over allegations that one of its subsidiaries falsified documents for lenders who were foreclosing on homeowners.
LPS also said that it settled a securities fraud lawsuit brought by St. Clair Shores General Employees’ Retirement System and another suit brought by American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc.
The company had previously announced settlements with the attorneys general of three states, and the only outstanding attorney general inquiry is by the state of Nevada.
“Today’s settlements are another major step toward putting issues related to past business practices behind us,” LPS CEO Hugh Harris said in a news release.
“We look forward to favorably resolving our remaining regulatory and legal issues in the near future,” he said.
LPS said it set aside $48 million in reserves in the fourth quarter of 2012 to cover additional legal costs related to the foreclosure investigation, including $14 million for the securities fraud lawsuit settlement.
The company previously set aside $78.5 million in reserves in the fourth quarter of 2011 and $144.5 million in the second quarter last year.
The company had $223 million in its legal expense reserves at the end of 2012.
The latest settlement includes $8.6 million for the state of Florida, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a news release.
“This settlement reflects the efforts of the states to work together to remedy the widespread abuses occurring in the residential mortgage industry in the past few years,” Bondi said.
LPS was accused by the attorneys general of engaging in so-called “robo-signing” of foreclosure documents.