EQUITABLE TOLLING ALLOWED IN ALLEGED SCHEME REINSURING PRIVATE MORTGAGE INSURANCE
Plaintiff homeowners filed a putative class against Bank of America Corp. (“BOA”), Bank of America Reinsurance Corp. (“BOARC”) and three primary insurers that issued private mortgage insurance covering plaintiffs’ mortgages with BOA. Plaintiffs allege they were required by BOA, the mortgage lender, to have private mortgage insurance to cover the risk of default which, under the mortgage agreement, BOA retained the right to place on plaintiffs’ behalf. BOA then allegedly placed the insurance with carriers that had previously agreed to cede a portion of the premium to BOARC, a captive of BOA, for reinsurance. Plaintiffs allege no actual risk was transferred, the reinsurance is illusory, and it therefore constitutes a prohibited “kickback” under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Defendants moved to dismiss citing the Act’s statute of limitations, but the court accepted plaintiffs’ equitable tolling argument that plaintiffs did not, and could not have, discovered the alleged “kickback” scheme because it was allegedly fraudulently concealed. Riddle v. Bank of America Corp., No. 12-1740 (USDC E.D. Pa. April 11, 2013).
This post written by John Pitblado.
