Alleging violations of public nuisance law, the city of Cleveland is seeking damages from 21 Wall Street companies that financed and cultivated the subprime mortgage market. According to a statement from the office of Mayor Frank Jackson, ‘unscrupulous lending practices that are part of the subprime market have devastated Cleveland neighborhoods which clearly demonstrate a public nuisance.’
‘There has been a national conversation about how the banks recover from the foreclosure crisis, but no one is talking about what should be done to support cities who have the challenge of managing this situation,’ adds Robert Triozzi, Jackson's law director.
The 21 defendants in the case are Deutsche Bank Trust Co., Ameriquest Mortgage Co., The Bear Stearns Cos., Countrywide Financial Corp., Fremont General Corp., Goldman Sachs Group, HSBC Holdings PLC, J.P. Morgan Chase Co., Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., Novastar Financial Inc., Washington Mutual Inc., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse (USA), GMAC-RFC, Greenwich Capital Markets Inc., Indymac Bancorp Inc., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Morgan Stanley, Option One Mortgage Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co.