New York-based GFI Mortgage Bankers has filed a motion seeking dismissal of a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit related to the company's pricing of loans.
According to GFI, it is requesting the dismissal because it believes the DOJ's complaint relies on the ‘controversial disparate impact discrimination theory that, as the U.S. Supreme Court recently made clear, cannot be applied to lawsuits brought under the laws DOJ relies on – the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) – as Congress did not expressly allow for such claims when it passed those laws.’
GFI is also challenging the DOJ's claim that the company has a long-standing practice of allowing limited discretion to its employees in pricing loans is a discriminatory policy.
‘This lawsuit advances very aggressive and untested enforcement theories,’ says Andrew L. Sandler, chairman and executive partner of BuckleySandler LLP and lead defense counsel for GFI. ‘We look forward to the opportunity to challenge DOJ's flawed legal theories and factual allegations in a courtroom, rather than continuing to see DOJ advance these theories on an uncontested basis solely through settlements and press releases.’