City of Baltimore Files Second Amended Complaint against Wells Fargo
City Solicitor George Nilson announced today that the City of Baltimore will be filing a second amended complaint later today in its landmark predatory lending case against Wells Fargo. This amended complaint was most recently due to be filed a month ago, but Wells Fargo asked that the City’s filing deadline be postponed so that the parties could endeavor to resolve the matter without further litigation. They were not successful.
On January 6, 2010, the Court dismissed the City’s first amended complaint with leave to file a revised complaint that alleges more limited claims. The revised complaint to be filed shortly complies fully with the Court’s Order.
The new complaint details the damages incurred by the City at specific properties in Baltimore’s African-American neighborhoods that became vacant as a result of Wells Fargo’s discriminatory lending practices, including the costs of having to address threats to public health and safety at vacant properties. With respect to allegations of injury from property tax revenue loss, the amended complaint further narrows the City’s claims by focusing on specific, carefully selected neighborhoods where the concentration of Wells Fargo foreclosures has caused damage to the City by lowering the property values of houses near Wells Fargo foreclosure properties.
The revised complaint re-alleges the “reverse redlining” claims that formed the core of its original complaint against Wells Fargo. Relying on testimony from former Wells Fargo employees, along with a wealth of statistical data documenting the disproportionate number of foreclosures in Baltimore’s African-American neighborhoods, the amended complaint provides rich detail regarding precisely how Wells Fargo’s loan officers targeted Baltimore’s African-American communities for unfair and deceptive high interest rate subprime loans, which Wells Fargo knew or should have known would lead to foreclosure. The amended complaint alleges that Wells Fargo made the loans anyhow because it sold the loans (and the risk) on Wall Street and profited hugely from fees charged to the borrower at the time the loans were made.
“Our purpose in bringing this lawsuit remains the same as it always has been,” said City Solicitor George Nilson. “We intend to expose Wells Fargo’s illegal, discriminatory practices to the light of day in a court of law. We want to make sure Wells Fargo reforms its lending practices, and takes specific, constructive steps to assist the City in repairing the damage caused by the many unnecessary foreclosures its irresponsible practices caused.”
The City is represented in the lawsuit by the civil rights law firm Relman & Dane, which is based in Washington, D.C.
For further information about the revised complaint, contact George A. Nilson, City Solicitor, at (410) 396-8393 or George.Nilson@Baltimorecity.gov. Copies of the second amended complaint are available upon request.
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