A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit against OneWest Bank FSB that alleged the bank completed a foreclosure while it was negotiating a loan modification with the borrowers.
The case was filed by Irene and Greg Rigali and their daughter Meghan Rigali. It involves a $560,000 home loan.
The Rigalis claim that they dealt with the same employees before and after OneWest acquired IndyMac Bank, and they were assured that the loan would be modified.
But, the plaintiffs allege, while they were in the middle of negotiations to modify their loan — the property was sold in a foreclosure sale in September 2009.
Court documents indicate that evidence was presented that OneWest assigned the trust deed to trustee U.S. Bank, N.A., while at the same time cashing the Rigalis’ first loan modification check and soliciting another loan application from them.
The Rigalis filed a complaint against OneWest in February 2010 in a California superior court.
In February, OneWest moved to dismiss the case. But the judge instead ruled in May that the Rigalis could move forward with their lawsuit.
A trial was scheduled June 3.
However, OneWest has reportedly agreed to settle the case for more than $1 million, according to a story by Cal Coast News . The settlement is expected prompt additional lawsuits by other borrowers who were impacted by dual tracking.
