Detroit-based Rocket Mortgage is suing the U.S. Justice Department, accusing the agency of unfairly dragging it into a racial discrimination lawsuit.
In October, the U.S. Justice Department sued Rocket Mortgage and an independent appraiser it hired, Maverick Appraisal Group, claiming the contracter undervalued a Rocket Mortgage customer's home based on her race.
The Justice complaint alleged the contractor used sales from properties in further-away neighborhoods with larger Black populations instead of closer neighborhoods that were predominantly white. The complaint says the appraisal was also more than $200,000 lower than an appraisal for the same home conducted less than a year before, even though home prices were increasing in value in the area at the time.
The HUD investigation based on the property owner's complaint, conducted prior to the DOJ lawsuit, mentioned a Black Lives Matter sign in the yard of the home, as well as photos of the owner and her daughter inside.
Now, Rocket Mortgage is suing the DOJ.
The lawsuit asks the judge in the case to fix what the company says are inconsistencies in the law. Rocket Mortgage says mortgage lenders aren't allowed to interfere with contractors' appraisals - but lenders are also held responsible for them.
"It is unreasonable that the DOJ chose to sue Rocket Mortgage for the conduct of an independent appraiser," said Rocket Companies President Bill Emerson in a press release. "We will not stand idly by while the courts are used as venues to leverage our company's name to publicize the case instead of pursuing justice against those who may have committed wrongdoing."
Rocket Mortgage has also filed a motion in the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, seeking a dismissal.
The DOJ has not commented on the new lawsuit.
