Saturday, July 19, 2014

Yuba jury awards homeowner $16 million in mortgage case


By Dale Kasler       dkasler @sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Jul. 18, 2014 - 2:43 pm

It started out as a simple loan modification for a troubled homeowner. It turned into a $16.2 million jury verdict against a nationwide loan-servicing company.

A Yuba Superior Court jury this week awarded $16.2 million in damages to a homeowner who nearly lost his home to foreclosure after the loan servicer botched his mortgage modification, the homeowner’s lawyers said Friday.

Phillip Linza, a homeowner in Plumas Lake, was awarded the damages after a three-year battle against PHH Mortgage Services, a loan servicer based in Mount Laurel, N.J.

Linza’s attorneys, Andre Chernay and Jon Oldenburg of the United Law Center in Roseville, said the award included $514,000 in compensatory damages and $15.7 million in punitive damages.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/18/6566661/yuba-jury-awards-16-million-in.html#storylink=cpy