by Tanta on 8/01/2008 04:17:00 PM

OK, it's Friday afternoon. Snark away over this:

A landlord who was apparently upset at his tenants because they were behind on their rent crashed his Hummer into their home – his property – and then attempted to kick the door down, according to police.

by Tanta on 5/19/2008 05:30:00 PM

I fear that if the complaint in this case is written with anything like the care and clarity of this press release, Downey probably has little to worry about.

The Complaint charges that Downey and certain of its officers and directors violated federal securities laws by issuing materially false statements regarding the Company's financial results. Specifically, the Complaint alleges that defendants concealed the following: (i) Downey's portfolio of Option ARMs contained millions of dollars worth of impaired and risky securities, many of which were backed by subprime mortgage loans; (ii) prior to the Class Period, Downey had seen Countrywide's growth and had started to get more aggressive in acquiring loans from brokers such that the loans were extremely risky; (iii) defendants failed to properly account for highly leveraged loans; (iv) Downey had very little real underwriting, which led to large numbers of bad loans; and (v) Downey had not adequately reserved for Option ARM loans, which provided that during the initial term of the loan borrowers could pay only as much as they desired with any underpayment being added to the loan balance.

I can't wait to find out what the evidentiary standard is for (ii).

by Tanta on 4/21/2008 06:50:00 PM

I have been trying to ignore this story in the LA Times all day, but people will keep sending it to me. I excerpt the relevant parts:

Some folks . . . some people . . . what appears to be . . . a jump in . . . believed to have been . . . The numbers are small, but . . . a dramatic increase . . . surprising some officials . . . making nationwide figures elusive. Still . . . a significant increase . . . questionable home fires, with foreclosure as a possible factor . . . potential fraud . . . would not provide further details . . . has not identified a rise in . . . does not support that . . . But some observers say . . . That's the question.

Yes, people have been known to engage in insurance fraud before. Yes, some of these people are probably emotionally disturbed--like a lot of amateur arsonists--in ways that both predate their mortgage loans and may well have little to do with those loans. No, I don't think this is one more thing for lenders to be afraid of--the lender being the loss payee on the hazard insurance policy, actually, that's the first place I'd look. I have no evidence that lenders are out torching homes instead of foreclosing on them, but then again I bet I could get an unnamed source to opine that it's possibly a dangerous trend . . .