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Florida to get $8.6 million in 'robo-signing' settlement

 
Published Jan. 31, 2013

Florida will get an $8.6 million share of a national settlement with a loan-processing company over so-called "robo-signing" and other improper mortgage foreclosure practices.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday the settlement is with Jacksonville-based Lender Processing Services Inc. and its subsidiaries. The total settlement is $120 million for 46 states and the District of Columbia.

Bondi's office says Florida's share will go into the state's general fund, minus costs for investigation and litigation.

The settlement also requires several changes in how documents are handled. One prohibits robo-signing, in which a person signs foreclosure documents without first-hand knowledge as required by the law. There will also be enhanced review of fees charged in default transactions and other changes.

The settlement is being filed in Hillsborough County.

A top lawyer in Bondi's office, former Deputy Attorney General Joe Jacquot, left in 2011 to work as the senior vice president of government affairs for Lender Processing Services while the firm was under investigation. Jacquot said then he had no connection to the investigation.