Capital Briefs: Mortgage Industry Avoids Class Action

The mortgage industry has won another round in its battle against yield-spread premium suits.

A federal magistrate judge in Alabama has rejected a motion to turn a case into a massive class action against Countrywide Funding Corp. and Madison Equity Mortgage Co.

Magistrate Judge Charles S. Coody said each claim is too fact-specific to combine into one suit. Instead, the plaintiffs must litigate each suit separately.

Yield-spread premiums are payments that mortgage companies make to loan brokers. Lawyers for consumers claim these fees are banned by the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

The magistrate judge's decision must be approved by a district court judge in order to become final.

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