Townstone Financial agrees to settle redlining case

Both the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Townstone Financial claimed victory in the contentious anti-redlining lawsuit as the mortgage lender agreed to pay a $105,000 penalty to settle the case.

The money will go into the CFPB Victim Relief Fund.

“This case should never have been brought,” said Steve Simpson, director of separation of powers litigation at the Pacific Legal Foundation, which represented Townstone free of charge.

“Unfortunately, the federal government possesses vast resources and the power to destroy lives and livelihoods, so settling is often the best approach for anyone facing a lawsuit of this kind,” Simpson continued in a statement.

A week ago, both sides wrote the court stating they were in negotiations to settle the complaint.

The agreement also dismisses the charges against Townstone President and CEO Barry Sturner, whose comments on a Chicago-area radio program allegedly disparaging Black people was the genesis of the CFPB complaint.

“My family and I are relieved to finally put this nightmare behind us,” Sturner said in the statement. “The last six years have taken a toll on all of us.”

“Townstone neither admits nor denies the allegations in the Amended Complaint, except as specified in this Order,” the settlement agreement stated. “For purposes of this Order, Townstone admits the facts necessary to establish the Court’s jurisdiction over it and over the subject matter of this action.”

In February 2023, Townestone received an initial victory in the case as Judge Franklin U. Valderrama of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled that the CFPB’s suit was invalid because the Equal Credit Opportunity Act applies only to actual home loan applicants, not to potential applicants.  

But that decision was overturned by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in July, which ruled that ECOA did apply to prospective customers.

“The CFPB’s lawsuit against Townstone Financial included a major appellate court victory that makes clear that people are protected from illegal redlining even before they submit their application,” said Director Rohit Chopra in a statement. “The CFPB will continue to prosecute those who engage in modern-day redlining.”

But the PLF threw down the gauntlet, declaring that the CFPB will continue to exceed its authority and it will fight back, looking to end federal agency overreach.

The Townstone agreement follows other recent settlements, including with Fairway Independent Mortgage for $10 million and OceanFirst Bank for $15 million.