New York Paralegal Blog

The Federal Trade Commission today issued a statement announcing that it will forbear from enforcing most provisions of its Mortgage Assistance Relief Services (MARS) Rule against real estate brokers and their agents who assist financially distressed consumers in obtaining short sales from their lenders or servicers.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A Frankfort, Ky., restaurant has settled a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit filed by the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. According to the EEOC’s suit, Jim’s Seafood Restaurant unlawfully fired a server because she was pregnant, and forced another pregnant server out of her job. Discrimination because of pregnancy violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and Title I of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. The EEOC filed the suit (Civil Action No. 3:10-cv-00043) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The parties negotiated a consent decree which provides the employees with back pay and provides for injuctive relief in the form of training and an agreement not to discriminate or retaliate further under Title VII and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. ...

Under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, two companies and three individuals are banned from the mortgage relief services business and must relinquish $2.2 million in assets for consumer refunds. The action is part of the FTC’s ongoing effort to stop scams that target financially strapped homeowners seeking mortgage relief. In November 2009, the FTC alleged that Kirkland Young LLC and its manager, David Botton, misrepresented themselves as consumer mortgage lenders, servicers, or their affiliates, and falsely promised they would modify consumers’ loans and make their mortgage payments more affordable. The court halted the operations and froze the defendants’ assets pending resolution of the case. The following month, the FTC added Botton’s sister, April Botton Krawiecki; their father, Samy Botton; and Attorney Aid LLC as defendants.

The advance fee ban under the FTC’s Mortgage Assistance Relief Services (MARS) Rule is designed to protect financially distressed homeowners from mortgage relief scams that have sprung up during the mortgage crisis. “Banning the collection of up-front fees will protect homeowners from being victimized,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said. “This is especially important at a time when so many people are behind on their mortgages or facing foreclosure.”

L&T Group of Companies Charged with Numerous Types of Employment Discrimination SAIPAN, CNMI L&T Group of Companies, Ltd., the largest employer and conglomerate of garment manufacturers in Saipan, has agreed to pay $1.7 million and to provide far reaching and significant injunctive relief to settle a series of lawsuits filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that charged the company with retaliation and discrimination based on national origin, pregnancy and age, all in violation of federal law. The three-year, court-enforced consent decree will resolve four EEOC discrimination lawsuits against the employers and their affiliates: Tan Holdings Corporation; Tan Holdings Overseas, Inc.; Concorde Garment Manufacturing Corp.; Micro Pacific, Inc.; Seasonal Inc.; and L&T International Corp. The EEOC filed the cases in U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands. The consent decrees, signed by U.S. Federal Court Judge Alex R Munson on July 28, 20...

RENO, Nev. Scolaris Warehouse Markets will pay $425,000 and furnish other relief to settle a class sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced on September 18, 2008. The EEOC charged in its lawsuit that 19 female employees, several of whom were teenagers at the time, were subjected to repeated and sometimes severe sexual harassment by the companys senior officers across multiple stores in the Reno area. The EEOC asserted that Scolaris senior officers and managers inappropriately touched female employees, propositioned them, made lewd comments and passed around naked photos of themselves, among other acts. In addition, the EEOC charged that Scolaris management failed to address and correct the unlawful conduct, even when the victims complained about it. Instead, the women were fired or were forced to abandon their jobs after they complained about the harassment. More...