Hometown Lenders and former branch move towards settling $1M suit

A former top performing branch for Hometown Lenders is inching closer to settling its $1 million lawsuit lodged against the defunct company last year, documents show.

The suit, originally filed in August 2023 by Anthony Perri Sr. and Anthony Perri Jr., a father and son duo who ran a Moketa, Illinois branch, accuses Hometown of failing to reimburse "hundreds of thousands of dollars of approved expenses," and their office building. Their complaint joined a chorus of other voices that alleged Hometown was negligent in running its business.

The lender allegedly stopped reimbursing the two plaintiffs for branch expenses in 2022, and because of this, more than $500,000 have been fronted by the father and son on Hometown's behalf to keep their branch running, states the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The duo left the company in July 2023.

An amended joint status report filed in late February with an Illinois federal court gives clues regarding how the settlement between the Perris and Hometown is being hashed out.

For one, the battered Alabama-based lender has agreed to transfer an office building back to the plaintiffs, the filing shows. Last year, the father and son duo claimed Hometown and Billy Taylor, Hometown's CEO, wrongfully retained the title to their office building. The purchase of the building was funded solely by the plaintiffs, they claim.

Hometown also initiated the transfer of deferred compensation to the plaintiffs. This will resolve Tony Sr.'s ask for the lender to pay him more than $738,000 in deferred compensation. Resolution of the above mentioned claims "will impact the pending motion to dismiss and potentially obviate the need for any briefing," an attorney representing the Perris wrote in the filing. In January, Hometown tried to unsuccessfully dismiss this case purporting it failed "to state a claim upon which relief may be granted."

If the two parties cannot come to an agreement, the branch managers and Hometown will have to file yet another joint status report April 1, after which a status hearing will be held April 5, documents show. Billy Taylor, Hometown's CEO, and the Perris did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another suit lodged against Hometown Lenders by a former branch manager seeking $50,000 for the company's failure to reimburse expenses and commissions may also be heading for settlement. Jason Wiggins, who filed a suit in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, said Hometown recently offered to pay 30 percent of the monies owed to settle. 

Even if the shop moves to resolve these two suits, there are other pending items that complicate the company's future going forward.

Flagstar Bank filed a $21 million suit against Hometown in November. The suit accuses the shop and Billy Taylor for "wrongful conduct" of defaulting on a warehouse line. Jury trial is set to begin in Michigan on Feb. 2, 2025. 

Additionally, a handful of state housing regulators moved to revoke Hometown Lenders' license at the end of last year, preventing the lender from doing business. Overwhelmingly, the notices filed by the regulators accuse the lender of not paying mortgage insurance premiums on what amounts to hundreds of government-insured loans. In total, there are at least 300 Federal Housing Administration loans originated by Hometown with unpaid MIP, per filings by regulators in the states of Montana, Missouri, Maine and Alabama.

The Internal Revenue Service has also issued a notice of a federal tax lien in the amount of almost $1 million late last year, filings show.