In the last three months, since May 1, 2012, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has sued 45 individual appraisers and appraisal firms in its capacity as receiver for one of the failed banks or lending institutions under its supervision. Read more
Update note 8/14/12: this case, particularly the plaintiffs’ attempt to create a defendant class of appraisers, presents significant new liability issues for appraisal management and appraisers. I will address the liability issues in this case and in other current AMC Read more
Because some AMCs continue to insist that appraisers do it, we are asked this question a lot: “should I attach my E&O declarations page to my appraisal report?” The answer is always the same: it’s a bad idea. It’s bad Read more
The most common search question by appraisers and appraisal management company personnel that leads to the Appraiser Law Blog is some form of: “What is the statute of limitations for suing about an appraisal?” Because this is so frequently misunderstood Read more
Update on the update: May 19, 2012 – in the last week, the FDIC sued approximately 20 more appraisers as the receiver for BankUnited in a last-minute rush to file the actions before the deadline for its negligence claims relating Read more
Can chief appraisers and other managerial appraisers at banks be sued for failing to fulfill their responsibilities with regard to oversight of the bank’s appraisal functions? Yes, they can and have been sued. The types of actions they have been Read more
One case that cannot be ignored on something called the Appraiser Law Blog is Gibson, et al. v. Credit Suisse, Cushman & Wakefield, et al. Even though the plaintiffs’ claims in my view just amount to buyer’s remorse following a Read more
The FDIC continues to sue residential appraisers in connection with origination appraisals and review appraisals performed for failed lenders between 2003-2009 on loans now in default. It may be helpful, or scary, for appraisers and AMCs to see for themselves Read more
The FDIC has joined the fray of mortgage backed securities (MBS) litigation as a plaintiff. In one of several MBS-related legal actions, the FDIC recently sued Countrywide Financial and Bank of America in connection with poorly performing MBS held by Read more
I have described below the 8 biggest appraiser liability cases with which I am familiar that are currently pending in the U.S. These are cases that specifically name appraisers, appraisal firms or appraisal management companies as defendants. That’s an important Read more