COLORADO ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE CHARGES TWO ADDITIONAL FORECLOSURE LAW FIRMS WIH FRAUD

DENVER – December 23, 2014 – (RealEstateRama) — Colorado Attorney General John Suthers today announced civil law enforcement actions against foreclosure law firms Robert J. Hopp & Associates and The Hopp Law Firm, including its principal Robert Hopp and affiliated title company National Title, and The Vaden Law Firm, including its principal Wayne Vaden and affiliated title company City Park Title. The firms and their affiliated businesses are accused of inflating foreclosure costs charged to homeowners and others in violation of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act and the Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

The Attorney General’s lawsuit against the Vaden Law Firm alleges that it inflated foreclosure costs for postings, court filings, and title beyond the actual cost or the market rate of those services. The lawsuit against the Hopp law firms alleges that the firms routinely collected on average between $1,200 and $1,400 in premiums for non-existent title insurance policies by ordering title products through their affiliated title company. Such alleged fraudulent costs were paid by homeowners, mortgage servicers, successful bidders, investors and insurers, including those that are taxpayer-backed.

“For abusing the foreclosure process for their own profit, eight Colorado foreclosure law firms have now been targets of investigation by my office,” said Attorney General John Suthers. “It is my hope that these actions will result in greater transparency and fairness in the legal processing of foreclosures.”

As part of the ongoing investigation of the foreclosure industry, the Attorney General has filed eight civil law enforcement actions against Colorado foreclosure law firms this year, five of which have resulted in settlements totaling nearly $12 million.  Information regarding these cases is available at http://www.stopfraudcolorado.gov/