TONDA BAXTER v. LAKEVIEW LOAN SERVICING LLC

Records show that you paid Mr. Cooper a convenience fee for accepting a payment on your mortgage loan by telephone between April 15, 2019 and the present. Mr. Cooper has already voluntarily refunded those fees to you. The Notice explains that the Court has “certified” a class in a class action lawsuit that may affect you. You have legal rights and options that you may exercise before the Court enters a final judgment in the case. The lawsuit is pending in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County and is known as Baxter v. Lakeview & Mr. Cooper, Case No. C-02-CV-22-000654. The docket of this case is publicly available through the Court or electronically through the Court’s electronic filings system known as MDEC.

The Notice further explains that a proposed settlement has been reached in this case. Pursuant to that settlement, in addition to the amounts already refunded to you and the other Class members in the total sum of $982,907.22, Mr. Cooper will provide a $37,200.00 donation with 50% being paid to Habitat for Humanity and 50% being paid to the Housing Initiative Partnership, less class administration costs.

The proposed settlement also provides that Mr. Cooper will pay class counsel legal fees in the amount of $114,240 for work incurred on your behalf that Class Counsel represents resulted in a more than 100% recovery of the fees collected by Mr. Cooper. Mr. Cooper has also ceased charging fees to borrowers who make payments by phone.

In exchange for these payments and the previous amount already refunded to you after this action was filed, you will have released and forever discharged Defendants and their Related Parties of and from all causes of action, suits, claims, demands for compensatory or exemplary damages and statutory damages related solely to convenience fees collected by Defendants while servicing your mortgage loan, expenses, costs, and counsel fees arising out of the claims asserted or that could have been asserted in the Action that relate to or arise out of the Defendants charging of convenience fees for the making of mortgage payments by telephone.

Ms. Baxter’s lawsuit is about whether Mr. Cooper acted improperly by charging a convenience fee for accepting mortgage payments from Maryland borrowers by telephone. Lakeview and Mr. Cooper deny that they acted improperly.

In a class action, one or more people called “Class Representatives” (in this case, the Class Representative is Tonda Baxter) sue on behalf of other people who have similar claims. The people together are a “Class” or “Class Members.” Tonda Baxter, who has sued, and all Class Members like her, are called the Plaintiffs. The entities that she sued, in this case, Lakeview and Mr. Cooper, are called the Defendants. In this case, there has been no determination by the Court of the Defendants’ liability or the amount of damages.

The Court permitted this case to proceed as a class action. The Court found that the case meets the requirements of the Maryland Rules which govern class actions in the state courts.

In the lawsuit, the Plaintiff claims that Defendants Lakeview and Mr. Cooper improperly charged convenience fees for accepting mortgage payments by telephone.

The Defendants deny that they did anything wrong.

The Court has not decided whether the Plaintiff or the Defendants are correct. At a later time, the trier of fact (i.e. a jury or a judge) would determine the merits of the claims.

Pursuant to the proposed settlement, in addition to the amounts already refunded to you, Mr. Cooper will provide a $37,200.00 donation with 50% being paid to Habitat for Humanity and 50% being paid to the Housing Initiative Partnership, less class administration costs.

The proposed settlement also provides that Mr. Cooper will pay class counsel legal fees in the amount of $114,240.

In exchange for these payments and the previous amount already refunded to you after the commencement of the action, you will have released and forever discharged Defendants and their Related Parties of and from all causes of action, suits, claims, demands for compensatory or exemplary damages and statutory damages solely related to convenience fees collected by Defendants while servicing their mortgage loans, expenses, costs, and counsel fees arising out of the claims asserted or that could have been asserted in the Action that relate to or arise out of the Defendants charging of convenience fees for the making of mortgage payments by telephone or over the Internet.

You may request a copy of the entire Settlement Agreement by contacting Class Counsel. Their contact information is set forth in answer to question No. 14 below.

If a notice about this Settlement was sent to you by the Settlement Administrator, then according to Mr. Cooper’s records you are a member of the Class.

The Class includes all individuals in Maryland who from April 15, 2019 to the present (i) paid a “convenience fee,” (ii) collected in whole or in part by Mr. Cooper or Lakeview, (iii) in order to make a payment on a residential mortgage debt, and (iv) where the term “convenience fee” was not specifically enumerated in the original agreement (or written amendments thereto) creating such debt as an authorized fee.

If you are still not sure whether you are properly included in the Class, you may get free help by contacting the Plaintiff’s lawyers in this case, Phillip R. Robinson at the Consumer Law Center LLC located at 10125 Colesville Road, Suite 378, Silver Spring, MD 20901, Phone (301) 448-1304, Email [email protected] or David Hoskins at the Law Offices of E. David Hoskins LLC, 16 East Lombard Street, Suite 400, Baltimore, MD 21202, Phone (410) 662-6500, Email [email protected].

You have to decide whether you want to stay in the class or exclude yourself from the Class, and you have to decide this NOW.

To be included as a Class Member, you do not have to do anything.

You have to decide whether you want to stay in the class or exclude yourself from the Class, and you have to decide this NOW.

If you do nothing, you will be included in the Class and you will be bound by any subsequent rulings in the case. You may receive the benefits obtained, for all Class Members. If you do nothing at all, you will not be permitted to bring any individual action against Lakeview or Mr. Cooper for any claims you may have arising out of your payment of convenience fees to Lakeview and/or Mr. Cooper.

You have to decide whether you want to stay in the class or exclude yourself from the Class, and you have to decide this NOW.

If you do not want to be included, then you must provide a written statement setting forth your name, address, telephone number and your signature, with a statement that says “I WANT TO BE EXCLUDED FROM THE CLASS IN BAXTER V. LAKEVIEW & MR. COOPER.” Requests for Exclusion must be personally signed by the person requesting exclusion from the Class and any co-borrower(s) on their mortgage loan, and must include the requestor’s full name and current address, the full name and current address of any co-borrower(s) on their mortgage loan, and if different the address of the property which secured their mortgage loan. The statement must be post-marked no later than February 14, 2024, and sent to Phillip Robinson, Consumer Law Center LLC, 10125 Colesville Road, Suite 378, Silver Spring, MD 20901 (Class Counsel) and also to John Lynch, Troutman Pepper, 222 Central Park Avenue, Suite 2000, Virginia Beach, VA 23462 (Counsel for the Defendants Mr. Cooper and Lakeview). If you timely elect not to participate, then you will not be giving up any right you have to pursue your own claims at your own expense, but you will not receive any of the benefits obtained from this action, if any are awarded by the trier of fact.

The Court decided that Phillip R. Robinson of the Consumer Law Center LLC and David Hoskins at the Law Offices of E. David Hoskins LLC are qualified to represent the Class Members. They are called the “Class Counsel.” The Court has found that these lawyers are experienced in handling similar cases on behalf of consumers. They can be reached at either of the following:

Phillip R. Robinson, Consumer Law Center LLC, 8737 Colesville Road, Suite 308, Silver Spring, MD 20910; (301) 448-1304, [email protected]

David Hoskins at the Law Offices of E. David Hoskins LLC, 16 East Lombard Street, Suite 400, Baltimore, MD 21202, Phone (410) 662-6500, Email [email protected]

You do not need to hire your own lawyer because Class Counsel is working on your behalf. However, you may hire your own lawyer at your own expense if you choose to do so or give this notice to any attorney currently representing you in relation to Lakeview or Mr. Cooper, also at your own expense. For example, you can ask your own lawyer to appear in Court for you if you want someone other than Class Counsel to speak for you.

If you seek more information, you may contact Class Counsel. Their contact information is set forth in answer to question No. 14 above.

You may also view a copy of the entire Settlement Agreement on the Important Court Documents page.