An Oregon federal judge has preliminarily approved a class action settlement worth $31 million that will resolve allegations that Bank of America NA illegally forced homeowners to purchase overpriced and excessive flood insurance policies.

The plaintiffs filed the class action lawsuit, which alleged that Bank of America sent letters to homeowners that claimed they did not have sufficient flood insurance coverage because they lived in flood-prone areas. The plaintiffs argued that there was no federal requirement for the homeowners in those areas to carry extra flood insurance. However, they claim that the bank forced them to purchase expensive flood insurance policies and received kickbacks from the insurers.

Bank of America denies any wrongdoing, but agreed to settle the class action lawsuit to avoid the expense and uncertainty of ongoing litigation.

U.S. District Judge Michael Simon certified the class and preliminarily approved the Bank of America force-placed insurance settlement, finding that the settlement terms were fair, reasonable and adequate.

Class Members of the force-placed insurance class action settlement include all persons who were sent a flood insurance cycle letter or were charged for lender-placed flood insurance by Bank of America, Countrywide Home Loans Inc. or Countrywide Home Loans Servicing LP between Jan. 1, 2007 and April 4, 2014 in connection with a residential mortgage loan, home equity line of credit, reverse mortgage loan, or loan secured by shares in a cooperative housing association.

In addition to providing compensation to Class Members in connection with their claims regarding excessive flood insurance requirements, the class action settlement also requires Bank of America to make significant changes to their force-placed insurance policies. Bank of America agrees not to take any commissions from force-placed insurance for three years.

A hearing for the final approval of the Bank of America flood insurance class action settlement has been scheduled for Aug. 22, 2014.

Earlier this month, Bank of America agreed to settle a similar force-placed insurance class action lawsuit in Florida for $228 million.



The Oregon Bank of America force-placed insurance settlement is the latest in a string of similar settlements by other major banks. Last month, a federal judge gave final approval to a $300 million class action settlement over JPMorgan Chase’s force-placed insurance practices. Wells Fargo and Citibank have also reached similar force-placed insurance settlements.

Additional information on the Bank of America class action settlement can be found at www.FloodInsuranceSettlementBANA.com. The deadline to file a claim was Aug. 11, 2014.

The plaintiffs are represented by Nichols Kaster PLLP, Stoll Berne Lokting & Shlachter PC, Berger & Montague PC, Taus Cebulash & Landau LLP, and Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP.

The Bank of America Force-Placed Insurance Class Action Lawsuit is Larry Arnett, et al. v. Bank of America NA, et al., Case No. 3:11-cv-01372, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon.

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