United States Second Circuit

Judgment dismissing complaint that an undivided unearned fee charged in connection with the refinancing of a home mortgage violated section 8(b) of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 and New York General Business Law section 349 is vacated where: 1) the district court erred in holding that Kruse v. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc., 383 F.3d 49 (2d Cir. 2004) controlled this case; and 2) RESPA section 8(b) is ambiguous as to whether its protections can apply to undivided, as well as divided, unearned fees, and HUD reasonably resolves this ambiguity by construing the statute to apply to undivided fees.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/06/2007
• Published 08/06/2007

Judges

• REENA RAGGI, Circuit Judge., Before:  WALKER, KATZMANN, and RAGGI, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Catherine E. Anderson, Giskan & Solotaroff, New York, NY, for Plaintiff-Appellant., Christine N. Kohl, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in support of Plaintiff-Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Gary C. Tepper, Arent Fox PLLC, Washington, D.C., for Defendants-Appellees.