Allegedly “Loose Lips” Cause a Big Claim. A recent and relatively big appraiser liability claim involved a commercial appraiser’s alleged breach of confidentiality. The damages paid to the plaintiff were significant. According to the plaintiff’s complaint (my recounting of the facts here is simplified), a lender had engaged the appraiser to perform Read more…
Update: Heritage Pacific Financial filed for bankruptcy in January 2014. For information about a new litigation venture against appraisers by some of its former management, please see this newer post here.These are four of the parties who have been suing the most appraisers in 2011-12. I suspect most appraisers won’t Read more…
On February 1, 2011, the Ohio Supreme Court will hold oral argument on a lender’s appeal in a case that it lost against an appraiser in the trial court and then lost again in an Ohio court of appeal. The appeal relates to whether the lender’s claims against the appraiser Read more…
This is an early report about claims against appraisers in 2010. The good news is that the professional liability risk to appraisers remains manageable with prudent loss prevention, despite a large number of claims stemming from the mortgage crisis. The bad news is that claims against appraisers in all forms Read more…
Commercial appraisers are more likely than residential appraisers to be in the position of considering whether to sue a client for unpaid appraisal fees because their fees for a single engagement are higher, sometimes $10,000 or more. Residential appraisers, however, occasionally also face the decision when unpaid fees have accumulated Read more…
We previously commented that Nationstar Mortgage is the lender who currently asserts the most claims against appraisers. In the last week, we have observed a new tactic being employed by Nationstar and feel that appraisers need to be aware of it to protect themselves. A typical claim by Nationstar against Read more…