Nevada sues home foreclosure firm

The state of Nevada has filed a lawsuit against a Florida firm responsible for more than half of the nation’s annual foreclosures, claiming that it defrauded homeowners and turned them out of their houses without due process.

On Dec. 16, Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto filed the suit against Lender Processing Services Inc. and its subsidiaries -- collectively known as LPS -- a Jacksonville, Fla., firm that processes foreclosures for a number of banks and lending institutions. The lawsuit includes allegations of widespread document falsification, forged signatures, deceptive statements made by LPS, misrepresentations about LPS’ fees and services, and evidence of an overall press for speed and volume that required employees to execute and/or notarize up to 4,000 foreclosures a day.

“The robo-signing crisis in Nevada has been fueled by two main problems: chaos and speed,” said Attorney General Masto. “We will protect the integrity of the foreclosure process. This lawsuit is the next logical step in holding the key players in the foreclosure fraud crisis accountable.”

The Office of the Nevada Attorney General recently indicted Gary Trafford and Gerri Sheppard as part of a separate, criminal investigation into the conduct of robo-signing scheme, which resulted in the alleged filing of tens of thousands of fraudulent documents with the Clark County Recorder’s Office between 2005 and 2008.

LPS is also being investigated by California Attorney General Kamala Harris for its foreclosure practices.

In an article in the Los Angeles Times, LPS said it has been cooperating with the Nevada Attorney General’s Office for more than 14 months and it would defend itself vigorously against the charges.