State Attorneys General News

The plaintiffs bar loves state attorneys general, who often hire the lawyers for a contingency fee and get campaign cash in return. The latest example is playing out in Nevada, where the AG and her legal friends could derail a $127 million settlement between a mortgage-processing company and 49 other states and the District of Columbia.

Standard & Poor’s won a ruling on Thursday that moves 15 lawsuits in which it and its parent company, McGraw-Hill Financial, were accused of fraudulently inflating credit ratings to one federal court.

 The Nevada Supreme Court is expected to take up arguments in a high-profile robo-signing case in which a mortgage processing services firm is challenging the legal authority of the state's attorney general to hire Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll on a contingent fee basis.Lender Processing Services Inc. has petitioned the state's high court to overturn a ruling that allowed Cohen Milstein's Betsy Miller to be associated as counsel to Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto. Masto has a pending complaint alleging that Lender's robo-signing of mortgage documents contributed to the state's economic recession.  

Nationwide Insurance plans to seek a stay of a lawsuit filed against it earlier this year by former state Attorney General Darrell McGraw.

Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other large banks are dragging their feet in processing homeowners’ requests for lower monthly payments under the $25 billion national mortgage settlement, said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in a letter obtained Friday by The Washington Post.