Ramon Walker, proprietor of Mortgage Options FCS, dba Consumer Direct Mortgage, and creator of a Fb group dubbed “Rocket Professional TPO vs. UWM,” has requested a Michigan federal courtroom to dismiss a go well with pegged towards him by United Wholesale Mortgage.
The unique grievance accuses Walker of trademark infringement and never paying an impressive early payout steadiness of $124,011.37.
The movement to dismiss filed Monday, argues the trademark infringement declare is a “pretext to muzzle [Walker’s] criticism.” Moreover, Walker’s submitting says the dealer by no means truly signed an settlement wherein he would owe an EPO, thereby, the alleged breach of contract declare is void.
In December, UWM despatched a cease-and-desist, warning Walker that it was carefully monitoring the Fb group he created and asking the dealer to take away all improper use of the wholesale lender’s mental property. Concurrently, UWM demanded Walker pay the allegedly owed EPO based mostly on an settlement between each events.
The wholesale lender adopted up with a go well with filed Feb. 14 accusing Walker of utilizing its emblem within the Fb group’s banner. The group, which now has over 6,000 members, eliminated the brand as of early January.
Relating to the EPO steadiness, Walker did enterprise with UWM as a non-delegated correspondent lender from June 2020 via Could 2023. Throughout that point, at the very least 12 loans delivered by Consumer Direct Mortgage have been paid off inside 180 days of disbursement, UWM’s unique go well with states.
Its “failure to pay its early payoff steadiness is a breach of the correspondent settlement that has induced UWM injury,” the lender stated in its grievance.
In fact, the correspondent settlement “is undisputedly not signed by both social gathering and UWM doesn’t even allege that the purported ‘modification’ was ever signed,” making it unenforceable, says Walker’s movement.
“UWM’s claims signify nothing greater than a vendetta towards unbiased mortgage brokers, like Mortgage Options, and their principals, like Walker, who previously labored with UWM however then selected to depart and work with UWM’s competitor, Rocket Professional TPO,” the movement filed April 15 stated. “Not solely does UWM search to burden and harass those that select to work with UWM’s opponents, UWM additionally seeks to muzzle any criticism by bringing frivolous claims of trademark infringement in a clear effort to stifle free speech and debate.”
Concurrently, potential litigation could also be sprouting up towards UWM following an explosive Hunterbrook Media report alleging the megalender pressured brokers to make use of it and overcharged debtors. Three shareholder rights regulation companies stated they’ve launched investigations wanting into the Pontiac, Michigan-based lender.
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.,Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP and Legislation Places of work of Howard G. Smith in separate bulletins introduced they are going to be wanting into whether or not UWM violated the federal securities regulation. The regulation requires for publicly traded corporations to maintain buyers knowledgeable relating to their monetary well being,
All of the regulation companies word Hunterbrook’s report and the racketeering client class motion filed shortly after put strain on UWM’s inventory value, inflicting it to fall by $0.56, or 8.5%, to shut at $6.00 per share on April 2, thereby allegedly injuring buyers.
It’s unsure precisely what the regulation companies might be investigating. None of them responded to a request for remark on the time of publication.
UWM didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark addressing each Walker’s movement and the three companies launching investigations.
