Representing Plaintiffs Since 1895

UPDATE ON REALTYSOUTH CLAIMS PROCESS

Class members were given an opportunity to submit their claims from October 1, 2010 through December 15, 2010. The opportunity to submit claims has closed. The claims administrator reported to the parties that over 700 claims were submitted that lacked the required HUD-1 settlement statement.

In an attempt to help these class members, class counsel submitted a motion to the Court asking the Court to require RealtySouth to produce any missing HUD-1 settlement statements that it had in its possession for those claimants that failed to submit the HUD-1 settlement statement. After briefing, the Court granted Plaintiff’s motion and counsel went through a lengthy process with RealtySouth to try and locate some of the missing HUD-1s from the files of RealtySouth. More than one hundred HUD-1s were found and the updated documents provided to the Claims Administrator.

The Claims Administrator then provided a status report to the Court. Counsel for Plaintiffs also asked the Court to approve the language and timing of deficiency notices to be sent to claimants with claims that did not have all of the required data. The Court entered an Order approving the notice of deficiency language on July 26, 2011 setting August 22, 2011 as the date for the Claims Administrator to mail deficiency notices and September 12, 2011 as the deadline for deficient claimants to supplement their claims with additional information. Read the Court’s Order here.

After receiving additional information by the September 12, 2011 deadline, the Claims Administrator will update its report of those claims that are valid and those claims deemed to be invalid. The parties will then have 60 days to agree on the claims which are eligible under the claims process. If the parties cannot agree, RealtySouth will then be given an opportunity to notify the Court regarding any claims it is contesting.

Once this process is completed, the Court will then establish deadlines for making a decision regarding the validity of contested claims, including a trial of those claims - if necessary. The Court will then resolve the disputed claims and set a deadline for the parties to submit a stipulated form of judgment by the Court and judgment will be entered accordingly. At that time, RealtySouth will have the right to appeal the judgment to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals if it chooses to do so.

There has been no settlement in this case. No document has ever represented that there is a settlement. Rather, the plaintiff’s won a liability judgment on behalf of the entire class and class members were given the right to submit claims. Because it is not a settlement, RealtySouth has the right to appeal the final judgment entered in the federal district court and may very well do so. Please check this site for any updates or you may contact class counsel.

Claims administrator contact: 1-877-541-3050