You might remember the United Wholesale Mortgage lawsuit we talked about almost a year ago. Link here to watch our LO Down from last year.
Back in March 2021, UWM established an “All-In” agreement in which brokers that wished to do business with UWM were required to stop sending loans to Rocket Mortgage or Fairway Independent. The agreement specified that any broker who continued to send loans to those companies after signing the agreement would face fines.
Fast forward to February of 2022, UWM sued American Moneyline for $2.8 million for breaking that contract. Soon after, AML counter-sued UWM claiming the contract was fraudulent and violated antitrust law.
Well, one of the first moves has been made in this case, and it is somewhat in UWM’s favor.
The judge in the counter lawsuit against UWM dismissed some of American Moneyline’s main complaints, including fraud and promissory estoppel. However, AML’s complaint on antitrust, in which they claim UWM’s “All-In” agreement is illegal, survived.
Some interesting bits to mention though - The judge did note she made her decision to dismiss these complaints based on UWM’s “All-In” agreement that AML and many other broker shops signed. And AML’s claim they had verbal confirmation from UWM’s Director of National Accounts that they would not seek to enforce the damages provision, was dismissed on the grounds that it was a contradiction of the purpose of a written contract.
In fact, UWM’s lawsuit specifically claims that 560 loans were sold by AML to both Rocket and Fairway after signing the agreement, for a total of $2.8 million in damages. In addition, UWM is suing two other lenders who signed that same agreement, and are requesting another $420k in damages for violating their contract.
AML had until January 9th to make its case to the court (in writing) as to how UWM’s agreement violates antitrust law. But as of the release of this blog, no updates have been made public.
We loved seeing all your comments on this story, so let us know…Do you think the antitrust case against UWM will hold up?
We’ll be watching this case and bring you the latest as it continues to unfold.
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https://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news/judge-grants-uwm-partial-win-ultimatum-lawsuit