In an opinion published today concerning the 2007 lawsuit filed by then Attorney General Cuomo against First American Corporation and its former appraisal management company eAppraiseIT, New York state’s highest court — its Court of Appeals — has ruled that the trial court properly denied eAppraiseIT’s motion to dismiss. In a 6-1 majority opinion with one strong dissent, the Court of Appeals ruled that the NY Attorney General’s claims about fraud and state statutory violations by eAppraiseIT in connection with appraisals for WaMu were not preempted by federal law. As a result, the People’s case against eAppraiseIT will now go forward. The case had been on hold in the trial court while the Court of Appeals considered eAppraiseIT’s appeal. It is possible that the case could be tried in Justice Ramos’ trial court within the next several months — Justice Ramos is noted for quipping in a later denial of eAppraiseIT’s summary motion:
“[W]e’re trying now, in the context of this litigation, to point a few fingers . . . Something went wrong, very wrong, and how many millions of mortgages are being foreclosed right now? I dare say quite a few of them were WaMu mortgages that were Eappraiseit appraisals.”
Here is an excerpt from the Court of Appeals’ opinion (a full copy can be found here):
Earlier posts about the 2007 lawsuit filed against eAppraiseIT by then Attorney General Cuomo include:
Cuomo v. eAppraiseIT: New York’s Highest Court Held Oral Argument on eAppraiseIT’s Appeal Today
