The legal struggle between Quicken Loans Inc. and the Justice Department may not go to trial for at least two years, Quicken hinted in its most recent legal final.
In a filing dated Thursday to back its argument to hear the complex case in Detroit rather than in Washington, Quicken lawyers noted that cases come to trial almost twice as fast in the federal court in Detroit as cases filed in Washington.
The average time between filing and trial is 29.3 months in U.S. District Court in Detroit but 49.7 months in the federal court in Washington, D.C., Quicken said in its filing. That argues for hearing the case in Detroit, the company said.
Quicken’s attorneys continued, “That is the relevant statistic, because there is every reason to think that this case will not be resolved short of trial…. While a negotiated resolution is always possible, both the breakdown in prior discussions and the existence of broader issues involving the ongoing administration of the FHA program … counsel that trial is a likely end-point for the litigation.”
Quicken and the Justice Department have filed rival lawsuits in a dispute over how Quicken certified mortgages it wrote that were backed by the Federal Housing Administration. The Justice Department claims in its suit that Quicken knowingly disregarded FHA guidelines and originated mortgages likely to fail, costing the government millions of dollars when the loans defaulted.
Quicken filed its own suit first in Detroit, seeking a declarative judgment from a federal court that its procedures were proper.
Legal documents filed in the suits indicated that the Justice Department was seeking a public admission of wrongdoing by Quicken and a penalty in the range of $100 million. Quicken has said it will not agree to those terms.
A hearing will be held in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, next Friday over in which city the cases should be heard.
