Posted on 03/20/2009 6:42:31 AM PDT by marshmallow
The legal battle could provide a rare window into the collapse of the financial and real estate markets.
Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles -- A legal battle between units of Countrywide Financial Corp. and American International Group Inc. could provide a rare window into the collapse of the financial and real estate markets.
In a lawsuit filed this week, Countrywide Home Loans Inc. complained that the insurer didn't cover more than $43 million in losses from failed real estate loans, many of which were bundled and sold as securities -- even though Countrywide paid more than $342 million in premiums to insure the loans.
"This is a lawsuit between two of the most vilified companies in America," said Kurt Eggert, a Chapman Law School professor who has closely monitored the lending crisis. "There's been a lot of finger-pointing at Countrywide and certainly AIG for their roles in this."
Eggert added, "Here Countrywide displays a huge amount of chutzpah because it's suing because its loans went bad, and it claims United Guaranty should have done better underwriting, when it's the failing of underwriting by loan originators that got us into this stuff."
Executives at the AIG unit, North Carolina-based United Guaranty Mortgage Indemnity Co., and Countrywide, based in Calabasas, declined to comment. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Countrywide grew to become the largest residential lender in the country as it expanded into the kinds of mortgages now experiencing the highest rates of default. These included subprime loans made to borrowers with bad credit or heavy debt loads.
Critics complained that Countrywide systematically steered borrowers into loans they could not afford, then bundled the loans and sold them for profit as securities. By insuring the loans, Countrywide was able to improve the ratings it received ..........
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
AIG to it’s lawyers:
“Just send our bills to the government for payment.”
Whose side does Dodd take?
Chris Dodd is in soooooo much trouble. Sweetheart mortgages from Countrywide, AIG bonuses- Oh never mind, He’s a Democrat, he can do anything he wants.
There will be MANY more lawsuits - reviving the outdated 1950’s term of “Duck and Cover”
one loser suing another loser...
the only winners in this entire mess are the lawyers!
what else is new...
If Countrywide had denied the loans then they would have had ACORN crawling up their butt though.
The whole d*mn thing is a mess from one end to the other, and as usual it’s we the responsible ones who will end up paying for it.
They're suing each other.
Country Wide and some other lenders were investigated last year for lying about the securities they were selling to insurance companies and others. I’m not surprised by this at all.
Oh this is good. Country wide created these bogus mortgages, bundled them as Class A securities, underwrites them through AIG, then SUES when AIG doesn’t cover the losses from these FRAUDULENT securities THEY created in the first place!
And they expect the court to rule in their favor? Incredible!
AIG has countersued. Or maybe it's Countrywide which has countersued.
It's all so confusing............ :-)
That's how the system is designed in sue happy America. That's why Democrats always refuse torte reform. They create the mess, and no matter what, will always profit from in one way or another, and usually all ways.
Uh, which bank now owns Countrywide?
http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv8-hptb5&p=BofA%20buys%20Countrywide&type=
Dodd also got a nice donation from AIG:
http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/back-story/2009/Mar/17/dodd-reaped-campaign-cash-from-aig/
“Responsive Politics show Dodd received $280,238 of the more than $4 million AIG has spent trying to influence Washington this decade.”
Dodd sure must have mixed emotions. Sorta’ like having your 16 year old daughter coming home at 2 in the morning with a Gideon Bible.
The whole damn thing is CRIMINAL, and has Obama and the Democrats fingerprints all over it. There's only one crime even larger than this whole scam, and that's the REPUBLICAN party sitting on their hands doing NOTHING. They should be demanding a judicial inquiry to identify every player in this right back from the beginning, Who what when where and why starting from when this "community redevelopment" bill was introduced during the Carter Admin.
This is a huge opportunity to flush out and expose darn near every Democrat for the crooks they are, and afterwards retake both houses in 2010.
Lots of Democrats did, including Obama. I saw this mentioned on the news this morning, except they didn't, WOULDN'T! mention Obama's take. Media is covering this mess up as much as they possibly can, because they know darn well that this is HUGE, would bring Obama down as well as sweep every crook Democrat out of government.
I hope they use “clawback” to get back some of that libtard Mozillo’s salary and bonuses. He was actively trying to make loans to as many unqualified buyers as possible.
Here’s the list of top AIG recipients for 2008.
1. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., $103,100
2. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., $101,332
3. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., $59,499
4. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., $35,965
5. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., $24,750
6. Former Gov. Mitt Romney, (R) Pres $20,850
7. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., $19,975
8. Rep. John Larson, D-Conn, $19,750
9. Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., $18,500
10. Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R) Pres $13,200
11. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., $12,000
12. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., $11,000
I might be mistaken*, but I thought it was BofA. (*fat chance)(grin)
So who is really suing AIG?
Mr. Gianini, from his grave!!!
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