An Ohio jury has awarded a Fort Benning solider $20 million in damages over mortgage account errors made by his mortgage servicer, PHH Mortgage Corp. Jurors took a little over 6 hours before coming back with a verdict ordering the mortgage company to pay $1 million in compensatory damages, $575 for out of pocket expenses, $350,000 in attorney's fees and an additional $20 million in punitive damages. The plaintiff's attorney called the verdict and the award "necessary to get the company's attention."
The U.S. Army sergeant bought a home in November 2007 and set up automatic monthly payments through his mortgage servicer to avoid any payment mistakes while he was on active duty. No complications occurred during the first 18 months of payments but the sergeant started getting repeated phone calls telling him that he had been missing payments and that his account was being reported as "seriously delinquent" to the credit bureaus. The sergeant made numerous phone calls to PHH, which the jury was allowed to hear, where he would hold for up to 55 minutes before actually talking to a representative, in or to try to clear up the mistakes.
He would always be told that the errors were being corrected but nothing was ever done to correct the mistakes. At trial, PHH mortgage accused the sergeant of lying and intentionally filing out forms incorrectly. Apparently the jury was not swayed by PHH's claims. While members of the military are given additional mortgage protections when they are on active duty, this case stems from the errors that can be made in any homeowner's mortgage.
If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit where you believe errors were made by your mortgage company, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer today to see what options may be available to you.
