What isn’t being said is that, if LPS’s purpose is to create fraudulent documents for the banks — and Dylan Rattigan points out that if the banks had the necessary documents, they wouldn’t need to forge new ones — that makes them a corrupt criminal organization under RICO. It could be very interesting to see what unravels as a result of this case.

The California Attorney General has pulled out of the settlement talks and plans to run her own investigation! I wouldn’t be surprised if the New York Attorney General followed, since he‘s already talked about investigating on his own, and says he’s looking forward to talking with her.

For that matter, since Nevada‘s Attorney General has taken Bank of America to court for (allegedly) not abiding by a 2009 agreement on foreclosures and foreclosure fraud, it would make sense for her to join the party as well.

On an unrelated note, since we normal humans have to follow the law, remember that Nevada has 141 new laws today.

We had a little bit of real estate news over the weekend: There’s talk about offering the banks a deal to get them out of the robosigning mess, but the banks don’t like it because it doesn’t limit their liability enough (maybe they should have thought about liability before forging and/or falsely signing thousands of documents!); meanwhile, FHFA is suing 17 banks including J.P. Morgan and Bank of America over Mortgage Backed Securities, but J.P. Morgan actually has a bigger problem, a RICO case (that means the plaintiffs are alleging that the whole company is a criminal enterprise); and the Feds are mad because they’ve been left holding the bag on almost a quarter million foreclosures.

But much more important is a case that hit the Nevada Supreme Court last week, one of three major rulings about foreclosures and foreclosure mediation. First, the rule of law was upheld and the claims of some mortgage servicers demolished when they ruled that to foreclose, they must prove that they have the right to do so through something called “chain of title.” That’s a fancy way of saying they have to show where the loan came from and where it’s been in addition to showing they have it now.

That’s important enough, but it turns out there’s more! The court ruled — not once, but three times — that when it comes to our mediation program, banks must send someone with every page of the documents, that they must be able to sign off on an agreement, that they can’t say “oh but I have to run this past investors/managers!”, and they can’t pass off a Broker Price Opinion as an “appraisal.”

The moral of this story is simple. If you get a Notice of Default, go ahead and sign up for the foreclosure mediation program. It is your best bet for saving your home.

Judges all over the country are tired of the fact that Banks Always Make Their Own Rules — something I call “the BAMTOR Principle.” We’ve already had rulings in Kansas, Florida, New York, and Alabama. It has taken longer in Nevada because we don’t have “judicial foreclosure”: foreclosures cases are generally not heard by judges at all. But now, Nevada’s judges are seriously talking about what consequences need to be taken against banks that act against Nevada homeowners in bad faith.

I say start by throwing a few bank representatives in jail for contempt of court.

Granted, this is a speedbump rather than a roadblock in the long run; B of A can theoretically do foreclosures without ReconTrust. It does at least indicate that the courts are willing to enforce the law against banks!

In an unrelated case that is still well worth watching, a Vegas lawyer is suing B of A for misleading him about the possibility of a loan modification. It’s probably a bad idea to break the law when dealing with a lawyer.

CNBC is just getting wise to the idea that “robo-signing” and its variants may be at play in non-judicial states too. Way to tell us what most people have already figured out.

Let’s have some good news please: violent crime is down in Vegas and Nevada has gained a 4th seat in the House of Representatives.

Also, if you didn’t get a chance to see last week’s Getting REAL, here it is! We’re talking about the South side of town and tips for getting your home sold!

Another don’t miss item is this front page item from the Review Journal about Nevada, Fannie, Freddie, and the foreclosure mess. Did you know that the average Nevada mortgage balance is 129% of the value of the home? No wonder refinancing is “tepid.”