A Florida company that robo-signed foreclosure papers will pay North Carolina $4.2 million as part of a $120 million settlement with Attorneys General in 46 states.
The Wake County Superior Court approved the settlement Thursday requiring Lender Processing Services to review foreclosures it authorized between 2008 and 2010 and correct any errors.
N.C. Attorney General said the company authorized foreclosures without proper review and also allowed unauthorized people to sign documents.
It's not clear how many people in North Carolina were affected by the practices of the company or its subsidiaries.
Lender Processing Services, and subsidiaries LPS Default Solutions and DocX, provide support to banks and mortgage lenders. Banks turned to such companies after the real-estate bust of 2008 put thousands of homeowners in default of their mortgages, but the companies churned out a high volume of improperly processed foreclosures.
John Murawski has been a full-time newspaper reporter since 1991, with stints at Legal Times and The Chronicle of Philanthropy (both in Washington, DC), The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Palm Beach Post (in South Florida) before arriving at the N&O in December 2004. At the N&O he covers energy (nuclear, coal, renewable, efficiency), hydralic fracturing (or "fracking"), public utilities (both electric and natural gas) and health care. His beat includes Progress Energy, PSNC Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, PowerSecure International, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Biogen Idec and others. You can reach him at 919-829-8932 or