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Judge Rules Insurance Premiums Were Reasonable

By Justin Kloczko

In a case that bucks the trend, a Los Angeles County judge has granted summary judgment to a mortgage lender accused of force-placing insurance policies on its borrowers in exchange for kickbacks.

The ruling ends a class action alleging Sun West Mortgage Co. Inc. forced inflated flood insurance premiums on its borrowers by colluding with Proctor Financial Inc., a Michigan lender-placing insurance company, in return for kickbacks to the mortgage company.

Judge John Shepard Wiley Jr. issued his oral tentative decision on March 2, ruling the price of the premium was reasonable and that plaintiffs submitted no evidence to prove a scheme. Johnson v. Sun West Mortgage Company Inc., BC541571 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 21, 2015).

Plaintiffs’ attorney John M. Kennedy, of Garrell Law P.C., said he hopes to win the case on appeal.

“The trial court considered evidence not in the record. We established a triable issue that the price of the lender-placed insurance was not ‘necessary’ to protect the lender’s interests as it included charges that should not have been charged to the borrowers,” he said.

Scott Gizer, a partner at Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae LLP, who represented Sun West, described the case as a “shotgun lawsuit to shake down a quick settlement.”

Plaintiffs alleged Sun West installed “unconscionably high” premiums, to the tune of 10 times more than the market rate, for borrowers with lapsed policies. Named plaintiff Charles Johnson, a retired police officer, canceled his insurance after a Sun West representative told him he didn’t need it, and was later hit with a $2,600 annual premium for being in default, plaintiffs said.

The lawsuit claimed five causes of action, including breach of contract and unjust enrichment.

Sun West said it showed evidence that the premium was in line with the market rate and even lower than what the federal government was offering.

“These lawsuits have been filed all around the country. We put in evidence that our client asked for competitive bidding on this insurance, got three bids, and picked the lowest one,” Gizer said.

Sun West attorneys said the company doesn’t have a legal obligation to find the lowest possible premium, but only to ensure the rate is reasonable.

Wiley agreed, striking from the record a report by the plaintiffs that alleged Sun West could have procured lower prices if it didn’t enter into contract with Proctor.

Gizer said the report was rife with generalities. “They’ve seemed to … do no due diligence, and hope something comes out in discovery,” he said of the lawsuit.

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP attorney Joseph E. Addiego II, who represented Proctor, did not return requests for comment.

The win for Sun West comes amid a number of cases in which mortgage lenders and insurers have paid multimillion-dollar settlements to resolve similar lawsuits.

Last month, HSBC Group agreed to pay $4 million to settle claims with the state of Massachusetts that it profited from commissions and kickbacks related to forced-placed insurance policies. In 2015, mortgage lender Ocwen Financial Corp. and insurance provider Assurant Inc. agreed to pay $140 million to settle a class action in which Ocwen was accused of inflating prices of force-placed insurance in exchange for kickbacks from Assurant.

This case, however, is different, said Gizer.

“They were creating insurance subsidiaries. That’s kind of how they were getting their kickbacks. They were keeping all their money in-house. We contracted it out to a third party to give us a lowest price,” said Gizer.

As appeared in Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal