Originally published February 28, 2013 at 5:12 PM | Page modified March 1, 2013 at 6:25 AM
State high court rules big foreclosure trusteebroke consumer law
The state
Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against a major player in the foreclosure industry,
Quality Loan Service
,
saying it could not act merely as an agent for lenders
Related
The state Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that one of the West
Coast’s major players i
n theforeclosure industry violated the state consumer-protection law by falsely notarizing legaldocuments and not considering requests to delay the auction of a Whidbey Island home
.
The court, overturning an appeals court’s decision, instructed a King County Superior Court
judge to issue an
injunction against foreclosure trustee Quality Loan Service
.
Quality “has demonstrated little understanding or regard for Washington law,” wrote
JusticeTom Chambers.
Foreclosure trustees are not simply agents for the lender
, the court wrote.
“The power to sell another person’s property,
often the family home itself, is a tremendous
power to vest in anyone’s hands,” Chambers wrote.
The law “require
s that trustee to beevenhanded to both sides and to strictly follow the law
.”
In 2008, the nonprofit group Puget Sound Guardians sued Washington Mutual and Quality Loanfor allegedly violating the consumer-protection law after the trustee sold Dorothy Hal
stien’s