Law firm investigating reports of inflated appraisals.
SEATTLE ˆ Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro announced today that it has begun an investigation of Richmond American Homes, a subsidiary of MDC Holdings (NYSE: MDC), based on reports from homeowners claiming the company may be engaged in agreements with Countrywide to inflate the appraisal value of Richmond American homes.
Homeowners report the company steered them towards Countrywide for home loan financing. Since the housing market‚s collapse, many homeowners now find themselves upside down on their mortgages and report Countrywide is unwilling to discuss loan modifications.
Based on reports, HBSS believes Richmond American Homes artificially inflated the home appraisal values of new homes with Countrywide, driving up home sale prices and pushing unsuspecting homeowners into dangerous loans.
Richmond American Homes operates Colorado, Maryland, Virginia, Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Utah and West Virginia.
According to the company‚s fourth quarter results for 2008, the company closed 944 homes at an average selling price of $300,300.
HBSS is interested in hearing from anyone who purchased a home through Richmond American Homes from 2006 to present and believes they paid an artificially inflated price. Homeowners can contact the firm at richmondhomes@hbsslaw.com, visit the Web site at www.hbsslaw.com/richmondamericanhomes or call (206) 623-7292.
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro will treat all information as confidential.
About Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro is based in Seattle with offices in Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco and New York. Since the firm‚s founding in 1993, it has developed a nationally recognized practice in class action and complex litigation. Among recent successes, HBSS has negotiated a pending $300 million settlement as lead counsel in the DRAM memory antitrust litigation; a $340 million recovery on behalf of Enron employees which is awaiting distribution; a $150 million settlement involving charges of illegally inflated charges for the drug Lupron, and served as co-counsel on the Visa/Mastercard litigation which resulted in a $3 billion settlement, the largest anti-trust settlement to date. HBSS also served as counsel in a $850 million settlement in the Washington Public Power Supply litigation and represented Washington and 12 other states in lawsuits against the tobacco industry that resulted in the largest settlement in the history of litigation. For a complete listing of HBSS cases, visit www.hbsslaw.com.
