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RICO
As we previously have mentioned, there is available a private cause of action, under RICO that provides the victim with triple civil damages for felony criminal activity done as part of a pattern of racketeering.
This cause of action is now available to the public as part of a RICO mass action lawsuit.
RICO encompasses the federal and state statute defined as the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
RICO was passed by Congress originally against organized crime in the 1970s.
Many distressed homeowners may be eligible to participate in a RICO mass action lawsuit.
To determine if YOU are qualified, you need to answer the following questions:
1) Did you or someone you know, take a mortgage loan between late 2003 and 2009 as a first mortgage, second mortgage, or home equity line of credit (HELOC)?
2) Since the time of the loan, has the appraised value of your property needed by the banks to justify your loan dropped below the amount of the original mortgage, so that your current mortgage note is now “underwater?” By “underwater” we mean that the value of the property is lower than the amount that you now owe to the lender.
If the answer to both of these questions is “yes,” some further homework will be needed.
The purpose of this homework is to determine if you have a legal cause-of-action for felony mortgage fraud against your lender and others that may qualify you for significant money damages.
To figure out if these damages are so, your first step will be to go to your county appraiser in the county where your property is located that you mortgaged or refinanced or obtained an equity line-of-credit.
Ask your county appraiser for the county appraisals for the years 1997 through 2013.
There may be a small fee to get these documents depending on the county you live in.
It also may take a couple of weeks to get the documents for all of the years in question because some may be available only in the archives of the county clerk’s office.
Would you like someone to do this research for you and gather these 16 years of appraisal documents on your behalf? If so, click on this link:
If you currently plan to just stop at this point, and wait to receive your county appraisals, we encourage you to use this time to gather the other necessary documents to prepare your lawsuit.
The next presentation will explain what other information you will need to gather.
So again, you can either go to your local county appraiser yourself, if you have the time during the weekday to do that.
Or you can get assistance in having someone get your documents for you, which is the first and most essential step in determining if you have a claim for damages for RICO mortgage fraud. Again, if you wish for assistance in gathering these 16 years of county appraisal documents, go to the following link for assistance.
